Fl Supreme Court opinion: Florida Private Whistleblower Act

Finally, a Florida Supreme Court decision on the Private Sector Whistleblower Act, § 448.102(3) determining that an employee must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the employer’s activity, policy, or practice is in violation of law—that is, it constitutes a violation of the law. There is no longer circuit splits on this issue, and those of us practicing in the jurisdiction of the Fourth District Court of Appeal no longer have to deal with an employee having “ good faith, objectively reasonable belief” that the actions to which he/she objected were illegal. In fact, the Supreme Court clearly and unequivocally declared that “§ 448.102(3) requires a plaintiff prove more than his or her subjective belief in an employer’s violation of law. To prevail in a retaliation claim under section 448.103 alleging a violation of section 448.102(3), an employee must establish that the employer’s activity, policy, or practice to which the employee objected is, by definition, in violation of law.”