A bill to strengthen whistleblower protections in Michigan received a hearing Wednesday before the state House Judiciary Committee.
The bill would increase the fine for illegal retaliation against an employee from $500 to $2,000. It would also let people who lost wages due to retaliation sue for three times their back pay.
Representative Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Twp.) said the state needs to do more to deter retribution and compensate whistleblowers who have faced it.
“The truth is under the current statute, there’s really nothing a victim is afforded other than reinstatement of their job and the wages that they lost because they were out,” DeBoyer said.
During the hearing, lawmakers briefly discussed possibly expanding the legislation so the whistleblower protections would cover more employees.
State Representative Kelly Breen (D-Novi) said that would make the bill stronger in her eyes.
“You have one person who sees something wrong, and they try to make it right by the proverbial blowing the whistle, then there are other employees who might see the same thing. And we want to make sure that if those employees come forward, they are also afforded the same protections,” Breen said.
Michigan’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act hasn’t been updated since 1983.
