New Jersey is an “at will” employment state, so it is possible for an employee to quit a job, or an employer to fire an employee, at any time without having to show cause. At the same time, employment laws protect employees from being fired for unlawful reasons. One of those unlawful reasons is retaliation due to whistleblowing. Despite the fact that there are laws in place prohibiting this action, many employees continue to find that their employment is damaged or terminated after making a whistleblower complaint that management does not like.

An employee is a whistleblower if he or she complains or threatens to complain, whether inside the company or to a regulatory agency or a newspaper, about unlawful acts in the workplace. In Lippman vs. Ethicon, the New Jersey Supreme Court has just provided needed clarity regarding the universe of employees to whom the Conscientious Employee Protection Act of 1986 applies.

The case

The lawsuit was filed by a man who, as a part of his job, was responsible for the safety of the company’s medical devices. As a vice president and chief medical officer, Lippman served on review boards within the company that assessed the health risks of those devices.

Lippman said that after numerous objections to the sale of unsafe products or products that violated the law, as well as his support of a product recall, his employment was terminated. Though the alleged basis of the termination was a relationship he was having with a subordinate, the man claimed that the firing was in retaliation for the safety concerns that he brought to light.

The court decisions

A lower court determined that the state’s whistleblower law did not apply to Lippman since he was already a watchdog for the company. The statute makes no such exception, but some previous trial court judges and a panel of the Appellate Division were persuaded by that argument — as was the trial judge in Mr. Lippman’s case. As a result his case was dismissed. On appeal, that decision was reversed and his former employer then appealed to the Supreme Court. The high court agreed with the appeals court determining that those employed as watchdogs “are among those most in need of CEPA’s protections.”

Conclusion

Whistleblower laws are designed to protect employees of many backgrounds from retaliation in the workplace. If you are the victim of this unlawful conduct, speak with an experienced employment lawyer for workers, to learn your options.