In 1983, the Texas state legislature passed the Texas Whistleblower Act, a major step in protecting employees across nearly all industries throughout the state. However, more than 30 years later, many legal experts say there are still holes in the law that prevent it from giving employees and taxpayers the full protections they deserve, mostly due to discrepancies between the state’s whistleblower laws and procedures at the municipal level.
A recent investigation by the Killeen Daily Herald uncovered several problems with Texas whistleblower laws:
- Reporting chain: Whistleblowers are only protected from retaliation if they report issues to a law enforcement officer. This usually is not reflected in policies at the city level, which usually have various in-house reporting chains.
- Type of offense: Any problem reported must be considered a violation of the law for a whistleblower to be protected from retaliation in Texas. This means reports of questionable spending or misuse of money might not be sufficient.
- Documentation: There is currently no form to properly document an official whistleblower complaint, and there’s very little information available to the public about how to find one.
- Oversight: There is no state agency that oversees the law or assists individual reporting possible wrongdoing on the part of the government.
Despite these shortcomings, whistleblower claims can have positive outcomes. In one recent case, for example, our own attorney Steve Kardell represented former Dallas ISD investigator Don Smith, who was fired without merit, and helped him win a $95,000 settlement and regain his job. To that end, it’s still important that Texas whistleblowers come forward and report any wrongdoing they believe to have taken place within their company or organization.
To learn more about how your organization should manage whistleblower claims, contact a skilled Dallas attorney at Whistleblower Law for Managers.
