Reporting wrongdoing at work can put a job at risk, and Missouri law answers that risk in more than one way. Which law applies depends on who the employer is and who received the report. Knowing the difference helps a worker protect a claim before anything happens.
Private Employers Fall Under One Statute
RSMo 285.575, known as the Whistleblower’s Protection Act, applies to employers that meet its size threshold, beginning at six employees. Its definition of employer leaves out the State of Missouri, its political subdivisions, and public colleges and universities. Workers at those employers look to other laws.
Three Kinds of Conduct Are Protected
The statute protects an employee who does any of the following:
- Reports an unlawful act of the employer to the proper authorities
- Reports serious misconduct that violates a clear mandate of public policy to the employer
- Refuses a directive that would violate the law if carried out
Proper authorities include a governmental or law enforcement agency, an officer of the employer, the employee’s supervisor, and the employee’s human resources representative. A report to anyone outside that list may not qualify, so the recipient matters.
Supervisors and Managers Face a Limit
A supervisory, managerial, or executive employee, or an officer, isn’t a protected person when the report concerns matters the employee is employed to report or give a professional opinion on. A compliance manager who flags a problem as part of the job, for example, may fall outside the statute. Protection also doesn’t apply when the person receiving the report is the one accused of the violation.
The Report Must Be the Motivating Factor
The statute asks whether the worker’s status as a protected person was the motivating factor in the adverse decision. Timing, clean reviews before the report, and changes in treatment afterward can all bear on that question. Posts and messages can become part of the record too, so the risks of venting online about work are easy to underestimate.
Public Employees Rely on a Different Statute
RSMo 105.055 protects public employees who disclose information they reasonably believe shows a violation of law, mismanagement, gross waste of funds, or abuse of authority. A supervisor can’t discipline an employee for that kind of disclosure unless the disclosure is specifically prohibited by law. A civil action must be brought within one year after the alleged violation, and the employee must first show by clear and convincing evidence that a protected report was made or about to be made.
Public employees can raise constitutional questions as well. The rights of public employees under the First Amendment sit alongside the statute and are worth reviewing before a disclosure is made.
Records Start With the Report Itself
A worker who may need either statute should begin keeping records now. Useful items include:
- A written note of what was reported, to whom, and on what date
- Emails, texts, and messages that show the report and any response
- Performance reviews and praise from before the report
- Pay records, schedules, and benefit statements
- Any letter, write-up, or notice that follows
Employment in Missouri is generally at will, but the at-will rules have exceptions, including the protected reports described above. A record of the report and its timing is what lets a worker show that an exception applies.
Local Representation for St. Louis Workers
St. Louis employees who are weighing a report can work with a St. Louis whistleblower lawyer to decide who should receive it and how to document it. We represent employees, not employers.
Workers may also have contract or pay questions that sit beside a report. A St. Louis employment lawyer can review those issues together with the retaliation concern.
Harassment Complaints Are Protected Separately
A complaint about harassment can draw retaliation too, and those claims run through different laws. A St. Louis sexual harassment lawyer can explain how that kind of claim differs from a report of unlawful conduct.
Joanna Trachtenberg Handles Employment Retaliation
Founding partner Joanna Trachtenberg handles whistleblower protection and other employment matters at TGH Litigation. Her background includes serving as Chief Counsel of the Medicaid Provider Fraud Division in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, and she earned her J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law in 2005.
Choose the Reporting Channel Carefully
Where a worker sends a report can decide which law applies and what must be proven later. If you’re thinking about reporting a problem at work in the St. Louis area, reach out to us before you do so we can review the options with you.