Whistleblower protections are intended to encourage you to report corporate wrongdoing. Workplace retaliation for engaging in protected, free speech at work is illegal. Employers that punish you for speaking out instead of taking remedial action to comply with the law face great liability. If you are punished, harassed, ostracized, or treated negatively for standing up for yourself and/or others, you may have a workplace retaliation claim.
California’s whistleblower protections are broadly applied to encourage free speech by protecting you even if you are merely perceived to have engaged in whistleblowing. Moreover, a whistleblower needs only report his or her reasonably based suspicion to be protected under the law. Meaning, you are protected from retaliation even if your suspicion ultimately turns out to be inaccurate so long as you acted out of reasonable concern.