Example of a Whistleblower Case We Handled Where an Employee Was Fired After Reporting Food Safety Violations to His Employer

Our client was a fast-casual restaurant manager who worked at a location with significant food safety issues. During the course of our client’s employment, he observed numerous illegal practices that directly violated state and federal laws and posed a threat to customer safety.

Over time, our client began to report these food safety hazards to the General Manager and District Manager. Some of these violations included managers fraudulently taking ServSafe training exams for other employees, crew members failing to sanitize kitchen utensils, and employees handling raw meat without properly washing their hands or changing gloves. However, management dismissed our client and refused to investigate further, telling him “not to worry about it.”

Our client was subsequently terminated for an alleged policy violation. The reason given by the District Manager for the termination did other make sense because other managers in the store failed to follow the same policy but were not terminated or even disciplined.

Our firm pursued the case on the client’s behalf, arguing that his termination violated state and federal protections against whistleblower retaliation and racial discrimination. 

Under the state whistleblower law, an employer cannot fire an employee because they report what they have reasonable cause to believe is a violation of state or federal laws. We argued that the employer violated this law because our client engaged in protected activity by repeatedly reporting violations of a federal food safety law and the state food code, such as fraudulent ServSafe exams, and was fired as a direct result.

We also argued that the employer violated the federal Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which prohibits food service employers from terminating or discriminating against employees who report violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Under the FSMA’s standard, a whistleblower only needs to prove that their reports were a “contributing factor” in the adverse action they faced. Then, the employer must prove with “clear and convincing” evidence that they would have terminated the employee anyway. We argued that the employer violated the FSMA because our client’s food safety complaints were a contributing factor in his termination, and that the company’s stated reason, the missed verbal wellness check, was a pretext to hide retaliation.

After the parties completing discovery in the case including document requests and depositions, the employer attempted to get the case thrown out by filing a motion for summary judgment. Our firm opposed the motion and successfully persuaded the judge to deny it.  The case has been scheduled for a jury trial.