SECTIONS 53296-53299 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 53296-53299

53296. Definitions used in this article:
(a) "Local agency" means any county, city, city and county,
including any charter county, city, or city and county, and any
district, school district, community college district, municipal or
public corporation, political subdivision, or public agency of the
state, or any instrumentality of any one or more of these agencies.
(b) "Disciplinary action" means any direct form of discipline as
defined in personnel rules and regulations adopted by the local
agency. "Disciplinary action" shall include the firing of an
employee.
(c) "Disclosure of information" means the written provision of
evidence regarding gross mismanagement or a significant waste of
funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to
public health or safety.
(d) "Complaint" means any written document containing a disclosure
of information as specified in subdivision (c).
(e) "Employee" means any person employed by a local agency.
(f) "Manager" means any employee having significant
responsibilities for formulating or administering local agency or
departmental policies and programs or administering the local agency
or a department.
(g) "Supervisory employee" or "supervisor" means any employee
regardless of job description or title, having authority, in the
interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall,
promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees,
or responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or
effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the
foregoing, the exercise of this authority is not of a merely routine
or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.
(h) "Officer" means any appointed member of a local board,
commission, or other governing body who supervises or is responsible
for the work of one or more local agency employers.
(i) "Administrative procedure" means any written administrative
procedure adopted by the local agency for presentation of a grievance
for ultimate decision by the governing body of the local agency. The
term does not include grievance procedures embodied in collective
bargaining agreements.
(j) "Reprisal action" means any act of intimidation, restraint,
coercion, discrimination, or disciplinary action against any
employee, or applicant for employment, who files a complaint pursuant
to Section 53297.

53297. (a) An employee, or applicant for employment, shall have the
right to file a complaint with the local agency within 60 days of
the date of the act or event which is the subject of the complaint.
(b) Prior to filing a written complaint pursuant to this article,
the employee shall first make a good faith effort to exhaust all
available administrative remedies. The 60-day time limit specified in
subdivision (a) shall be extended by the amount of time actually
utilized by the employee in pursuing available administrative
remedies.
(c) A complaint pursuant to this article shall be filed in
accordance with the locally adopted administrative procedure. If
there is no administrative procedure, the complaint shall be filed
with the governing body.
(d) All complaints brought by employees under this article shall
be filed under penalty of perjury.

53298. (a) No local agency officer, manager, or supervisor shall
take a reprisal action against any employee or applicant for
employment who files a complaint pursuant to Section 53297.
(b) This article is not intended to prevent a local agency from
taking, directing others to take, recommending, or approving any
personnel action with respect to any employee or applicant for
employment if the local agency reasonably believes that the action or
inaction is justified on the basis of separate evidence which shows
any of the following:
(1) The employee's complaint has disclosed information that he or
she knows to be false or has disclosed information without regard for
the truth or falsity thereof.
(2) The employee's complaint has disclosed information from
records which are closed to public inspection pursuant to law.
(3) The employee's complaint has disclosed information which is
confidential under any other provision of law.
(4) The employee was the subject of an ongoing or existing
disciplinary action prior to the disclosure of information with the
local agency.
(5) The employee has violated any other provision of the local
personnel rules and regulations, has failed to perform assigned
duties, or has committed any other act unrelated to the disclosure
that would otherwise be subject to personnel action.
(c) It is not a violation of this article for an officer, manager,
or supervisor to take disciplinary action against an employee if
that officer, manager, or supervisor had no prior knowledge that a
complaint had been filed by that employee.

53298.5. (a) Any officer, manager, or supervisor who violates
Section 53298 with malicious intent is punishable by a fine not to
exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) and imprisonment in the county
jail for up to a period of one year. In addition, any local agency
officer, manager, or supervisor who maliciously engages in conduct
prohibited by Section 53298 shall be disciplined as provided by local
personnel rules and regulations.
(b) In addition to all other penalties provided by law, any local
officer, manager, or supervisor who has been found by a court to have
violated the provisions of Section 53298 with malicious intent shall
be individually liable for damages in an action brought against him
or her by the injured employee. Punitive damages may be awarded by
the court where the offending party has acted with malice. Where
liability has been established, the injured employee shall also be
entitled to reasonable attorney's fees as provided by law. In no way,
shall the provisions of this article establish any liability for
punitive damages or any new cause of action against the local public
entity other than liabilities contained in existing law.

53299. In order for the Governor and the Legislature to determine
the need to continue or modify local agency personnel procedures as
they relate to disclosure of information by public employees, the
League of California Cities in consultation with the County
Supervisors Association of California, may submit on June 30, 1987,
and annually thereafter, a report to the Governor and the Legislature
regarding complaints filed, hearings held, and legal actions taken
pursuant to this section.