Monday morning the Supreme Court will file its opinion in People ex rel. Garcia-Brower v. Kolla’s Inc.. (Briefs here; oral argument video here.)
The issue teed up for decision is whether California’s whistleblower statute, Labor Code section 1102.5, protects an employee from retaliation for disclosing unlawful activity when the information is already known to that person or agency.
As previously noted on this blog, the appeal in this case was decided in an unpublished opinion after briefing from only one side, which doesn’t ordinarily make a good vehicle for Supreme Court review, but a dissenting justice urged the Supreme Court to grant review because the case involves important recurring issues of whistleblower protection and wage theft under threat of a report to immigration authorities.
Our reporting on this opinion may be delayed by a day or two.