In a recent WSJ.com article, Kenneth Sulzer, partner and co-head of Proskauer’s California Labor and Employment Law Group, discussed the implications of California’s new whistleblower law prohibiting retaliation for an internal reports of suspected unlawful activity.

Prior to this law, employees only received whistleblower protection under California law when reporting a violation to authorities.  Now, employees will soon have a cause of action for anticipatory whistleblowing, which means an employer cannot take an adverse action against an employee because it suspects he or she might report unlawful activity.

Sulzer called the new law a game-changer, which will lead “more lawsuits, more investigations and higher risk profiles.”  Further discussion of this new California law can be found in our recent post.