Whistle Blowing / Business Lawyer Colorado

Blow the Whistle Only If You Can Afford It.

In theory, the law is designed to protect whistle blowers, employees who report their company's wrongdoing to regulators and authorities. Laws exist to protect you from being terminated or suffering an adverse impact at work for reporting such wrongdoing. Under many laws, you can get your job back and have your attorneys' fees reimbursed. Sometimes there are even exemplary damages assessed against the company if they are found to be in violation. This is fine in theory. In reality, those who are fired for whistle blowing have a very tough situation on their hands, and it has everything to do with how the legal system in fact works. Consider the following.

Angry at your employer for promoting other truckers to better routes and pay when those drivers used illegal substances, you report your trucking employer to OSHA for permitting employees to use controlled substances while driving. The employer fires you, citing poor job performance and tardiness. At this point, you have no income and will need an attorney to pursue your wrongful termination claim. OSHA may well investigate the company for free, but this can take up to a year, or more in certain instances, and you can bet the company's lawyers will fight the charge tooth and nail, slowing down the process and making it possible that the company may not actually lose but rather prevail. For instance they may be able to show the controlled substances were prescriptions used within doctors' orders, or not dangerous to the job, or assert some other novel defense. Or OSHA may be too busy to devote much investigative power to the matter, making it easier for the company to mount its defense and skate by. You will likely be deposed and required to testify from time to time, interrupting your schedule with any new employer, if you have been lucky enough to find a new job. Of course, the new employer will be less than thrilled with your absences and the reason for them.

Meanwhile, during your period of unemployment, you will need to find a business lawyer who will take on your wrongful termination case. Good luck finding a contingency lawyer in this matter. Without insurance contracts and a clear cut statutory violation, few lawyers will be interested in your case. And even if you find one, you may still have to pay certain court costs and expert fees. You will be able to hire hourly attorneys, but you will need to pay them hundreds of dollars an hour and provide thousands of dollars in retainers, possibly needing replenishment on a monthly basis. And remember, this is while you are unemployed.

At the end of the day, likely more than a year later, if you win, and you could lose, you may eventually get your attorneys' fees paid and collect a judgment, less any contingency fee. Keep in mind, the collection process takes a great deal of time as well, as you don't receive a check upon winning, just a judgment which will need enforcement. Not such a great outcome. Perhaps it would have been better to weigh the actual financial pros and cons of whistle blowing, before acting.

Free Advice Which Can Save You Big Money.

Why do we warn you about this when we could earn revenues by keeping quiet and helping you sue instead? Because the above warning is likely the advice we would be giving you in private at the first meeting between you and your business attorneys. We would be advising you to consider your personal financial situation very carefully before acting. And we would be warning you about the intrinsically slow, expensive and imprecise nature of the justice system. So we are doing it here. Keep this in mind when the urge to whistle blow hits you. Often, no good deed goes unpunished, and our job is to protect your interests, even if that means advising you to refrain from selflessly advocating on behalf of the general public. If we advised you otherwise, it might even be malpractice. So, before you whistle blow, whether in Denver or elsewhere in Colorado, call one of our business lawyers first.

Contact a Denver Business Lawyer at Williams Law, P.C. for legal counsel and litigation representation.