California whistleblower law? Safe harbor?

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Does anyone know where I can find detailed information about these laws in California if they exist? I found info on ratios but not much on the nurse protection from employers who violate them. What would a nurse do if she were given an unsafe assignment? Would California law protect the nurse from employer retaliation? Thanks for any help!

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
Does anyone know where I can find detailed information about these laws in California if they exist? I found info on ratios but not much on the nurse protection from employers who violate them. What would a nurse do if she were given an unsafe assignment? Would California law protect the nurse from employer retaliation? Thanks for any help!
The California Whistleblower law was sponsored by the California Nurses association. The nurse must make sure there is proof the hospital knows a report to a governmental entity was made. Send an e-mail, text, letter, or say it with witnesses.

1278.5. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is the

public policy of the State of California to encourage patients,

nurses, members of the medical staff, and other health care workers

to notify government entities of suspected unsafe patient care and

conditions. The Legislature encourages this reporting in order to

protect patients and in order to assist those accreditation and

government entities charged with ensuring that health care is safe.

The Legislature finds and declares that whistleblower protections

apply primarily to issues relating to the care, services, and

conditions of a facility and are not intended to conflict with

existing provisions in state and federal law relating to employee and

employer relations.

(b) (1) No health facility shall discriminate or retaliate, in any

manner, against any patient, employee, member of the medical staff,

or any other health care worker of the health facility because that

person has done either of the following:

(A) Presented a grievance, complaint, or report to the facility,

to an entity or agency responsible for accrediting or evaluating the

facility, or the medical staff of the facility, or to any other

governmental entity.

(B) Has initiated, participated, or cooperated in an investigation

or administrative proceeding related to, the quality of care,

services, or conditions at the facility that is carried out by an

entity or agency responsible for accrediting or evaluating the

facility or its medical staff, or governmental entity.

(2) No entity that owns or operates a health facility, or which

owns or operates any other health facility, shall discriminate or

retaliate against any person because that person has taken any

actions pursuant to this subdivision.

(3) A violation of this section shall be subject to a civil

penalty of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000). The

civil penalty shall be assessed and recovered through the same

administrative process set forth in Chapter 2.4 (commencing with

Section 1417) for long-term health care facilities.

© Any type of discriminatory treatment of a patient by whom, or

upon whose behalf, a grievance or complaint has been submitted,

directly or indirectly, to a governmental entity or received by a

health facility administrator within 180 days of the filing of the

grievance or complaint, shall raise a rebuttable presumption that the

action was taken by the health facility in retaliation for the

filing of the grievance or complaint.

(d) (1) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that

discriminatory action was taken by the health facility, or by the

entity that owns or operates that health facility, or that owns or

operates any other health facility, in retaliation against an

employee, member of the medical staff, or any other health care

worker of the facility, if responsible staff at the facility or the

entity that owns or operates the facility had knowledge of the

actions, participation, or cooperation of the person responsible for

any acts described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), and the

discriminatory action occurs within 120 days of the filing of the

grievance or complaint by the employee, member of the medical staff

or any other health care worker of the facility.

(2) For purposes of this section, discriminatory treatment of an

employee, member of the medical staff, or any other health care

worker includes, but is not limited to, discharge, demotion,

suspension, or any unfavorable changes in, or breach of, the terms or

conditions of a contract, employment, or privileges of the employee,

member of the medical staff, or any other health care worker of the

health care facility, or the threat of any of these actions.

(e) The presumptions in subdivisions © and (d) shall be

presumptions affecting the burden of producing evidence as provided

in Section 603 of the Evidence Code.

(f) Any person who willfully violates this section is guilty of a

misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than twenty thousand

dollars ($20,000).

(g) An employee who has been discriminated against in employment

pursuant to this section shall be entitled to reinstatement,

reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits caused by the acts of

the employer, and the legal costs associated with pursuing the case,

or to any remedy deemed warranted by the court pursuant to this

chapter or any other applicable provision of statutory or common law.

A health care worker who has been discriminated against pursuant to

this section shall be entitled to reimbursement for lost income and

the legal costs associated with pursuing the case, or to any remedy

deemed warranted by the court pursuant to this chapter or other

applicable provision of statutory or common law. A member of the

medical staff who has been discriminated against pursuant to this

section shall be entitled to reinstatement, reimbursement for lost

income resulting from any change in the terms or conditions of his or

her privileges caused by the acts of the facility or the entity that

owns or operates a health facility or any other health facility that

is owned or operated by that entity, and the legal costs associated

with pursuing the case, or to any remedy deemed warranted by the

court pursuant to this chapter or any other applicable provision of

statutory or common law.

(h) The medical staff of the health facility may petition the

court for an injunction to protect a peer review committee from being

required to comply with evidentiary demands on a pending peer review

hearing from the member of the medical staff who has filed an action

pursuant to this section, if the evidentiary demands from the

complainant would impede the peer review process or endanger the

health and safety of patients of the health facility during the peer

review process. Prior to granting an injunction, the court shall

conduct an in camera review of the evidence sought to be discovered

to determine if a peer review hearing, as authorized in Section 805

and Sections 809 to 809.5, inclusive, of the Business and Professions

Code, would be impeded. If it is determined that the peer review

hearing will be impeded, the injunction shall be granted until the

peer review hearing is completed. Nothing in this section shall

preclude the court, on motion of its own or by a party, from issuing

an injunction or other order under this subdivision in the interest

of justice for the duration of the peer review process to protect the

person from irreparable harm.

(i) For purposes of this section, "health facility" means any

facility defined under this chapter, including, but not limited to,

the facility's administrative personnel, employees, boards, and

committees of the board, and medical staff.

(j) This section shall not apply to an inmate of a correctional

facility or juvenile facility of the Department of Corrections and

Rehabilitation, or to an inmate housed in a local detention facility

including a county jail or a juvenile hall, juvenile camp, or other

juvenile detention facility.

(k) This section shall not apply to a health facility that is a

long-term health care facility, as defined in Section 1418. A health

facility that is a long-term health care facility shall remain

subject to Section 1432.

(l) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the

ability of the medical staff to carry out its legitimate peer review

activities in accordance with Sections 809 to 809.5, inclusive, of

the Business and Professions Code.

(m) Nothing in this section abrogates or limits any other theory

of liability or remedy otherwise available at law.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=hsc&group=01001-02000&file=1275-1289.5

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Whistleblow anonymously... especially in this economy.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

In my California experience when the employer is reminded of the whistleblower law they stop retaliation. The employer has the responsibility to prove the action was NOT in retaliation for whistleblowing.

Read the law. The facility must pay a $25,000.00 fine and the manager who retaliates must personally pay $20,000.00.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

But CA has nothing in place to provide protection to a nurse in "real time" - when s/he believes that an assignment is unsafe? Whistleblower protections are great, but they cover actions 'after the fact'; possibly when the damage has already been done. That's a shame. Seems like everyone has a false sense of security based on the CA mandated ratios that are/were widely publicized.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
But CA has nothing in place to provide protection to a nurse in "real time" - when s/he believes that an assignment is unsafe? Whistleblower protections are great, but they cover actions 'after the fact'; possibly when the damage has already been done. That's a shame. Seems like everyone has a false sense of security based on the CA mandated ratios that are/were widely publicized.
What is available in your state to provide safe staffing and enough supplies and working equipment in real time? What do you do to always have enough staff to provide excellent care?

We are realistic. Whistleblowing is done when direct action didn't work.

What many nurses do when their hospital violates the law: http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/page/-/files/pdf/nursing-practice/advo-alerts/prtotect-your-licensemar2309.pdf

The same information in a different format: http://nurses.3cdn.net/dfe19c41cd5c7a4ad3_nim6bxw3p.pdf

California ratios save lives and improve care: Hospital nurse staffing ratios mandated in California are associated with

lower mortality and nurse outcomes predictive of better nurse retention in California

and in other states where they occur. -- http://nurses.3cdn.net/f83005dfafc3cd0332_evm6bn5zg.pdf

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