Opinion ID: 4212198
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Dietz’s Whistleblower Complaint

Text: On April 12, 2013, after one of the Bonus Plan training sessions, Dietz e- mailed his supervisor, James Nulty, expressing concern about the legality of the Bonus Plan under California and Colorado wage laws. On April 22, 2013, Dietz had a follow-up phone conversation with Cypress’s General Counsel, Victoria Valenzuela during which he made the same assertion—that the Bonus Plan violated state wage laws. In addition to his state-law complaint, Dietz told Valenzuela that the Bonus Plan took the Ramtron employees by surprise. He said that the Ramtron offer letters conveyed to employees “what their salary [was] going to be and then you change the game.” AR 1307 (emphasis added). Valenzuela assured Dietz that there was no legal problem with the Bonus Plan itself and that Ramtron employees had been properly apprised of the scheme.