California to Expand Whistleblower Protections for Immigrant Workers: Employment Law Manual Updated, Legal Timetable Added

Authors: Melissa A. Silver, Marta Moakley and Beth P. Zoller, XpertHR Legal Editors

California has passed legislation, effective January 1, 2015, enhancing the whistleblower protections for immigrant workers by:

  • Expanding the definition of unfair immigration-related practice;
  • Permitting an employee to pursue a civil claim seeking damages and penalties against an employer for its unfair immigration-related practice;
  • Prohibiting an employer from discharging or discriminating, retaliating or taking any adverse action against an employee because the employee updates or attempts to update his or her personal information based on a lawful change of name, Social Security Number or federal employment authorization document; and
  • Providing for a $10,000 penalty to be awarded for each violation to an employee who suffers an adverse employment action due to his or her protected conduct.

As a result of this development, the following California sections of the Employment Law Manual have been updated:

In addition, an entry has been added to the Legal Timetable.