Radford & Keebaugh, Experienced Civil Rights & Employment Law Attorneys

Atlanta Employment Lawyers, Georgia Civil Rights Attorneys, Employment Discrimination, Wage and Hour, Unpaid Overtime, Americans with Disabilities Act, First Amendment, False Arrest

  • Meet Our Team
    • Attorney Profile: James Radford
    • Attorney Profile: Regan Keebaugh
    • Attorney Profile: Georgia Lord
    • Attorney Profile: Dan Werner
    • Attorney Profile: Jake Knanishu
    • Attorney Profile: Zachary Panter
    • Staff Profile: Ila Wade
  • Practice Areas
    • Injury and Death
    • Employment Discrimination
    • Unemployment Benefits
    • Fair Labor Standards Act (Overtime, Wage and Hour)
    • Georgia Whistleblower Act
    • Public Employee Personnel Appeals
    • Americans with Disabilities Act
  • Contact Us Today
  • Address and Directions
  • Video
  • Blog

Supreme Court: Georgia’s Whistleblower Protection Act Protects City, County Employees Along with State Employees

April 30, 2014 James Radford

In the consolidated cases of Warren v. Fulton County and Colon v. Fulton County, the Georgia Supreme Court issued an order that strengthens our state’s whistleblower statute, by clarifying whether employees of local and county governments have the same protections afforded to state employees.

The Georgia Court of Appeals had previously held that the whistleblower law–O.C.G.A. 45-1-4, only applied to employees of “local governments,” if suspected fraud, waste, or abuse related to “state programs and operations.” The Supreme Court has reversed, finding that the statute protects all public employees who complain of fraud, waste, abuse, or violations of law, by a local government, and not only those who complain of abuse with respect to state funds. The court held, in a footnote:

Indeed, the straightforward construction of the statute outlined above makes perfect sense, as a public employee might not even know whether state money is involved at the time that he or she discovers and reports a violation of the rules to his or her supervisor. Under OCGA § 45-1-4, regardless of whether a public employee has knowledge of the extent to which state funds may or may not be involved in a reported violation of rules or regulations, the public employee would still be protected from retaliation after making the disclosure. This makes sense, as OCGA § 45-1-4 would then operate such that a public employee would always be protected from retaliation when disclosing improper conduct, rather than offering protection for some public employees who disclose improper conduct (i.e. those reporting rule violations relating to state funded operations) and leaving others who disclose improper conduct without such protection (i.e. those reporting rule violations that do not relate to state funded operations).

The Warren and Colon matters related to two former Fulton County employees who had been tasked to investigate internal complaints of fraud, waste, and abuse within Fulton County government. Shortly after they uncovered that a group of finance employees had been stealing county money to fund a private business, they were terminated without explanation.

James Radford and Lee Parks led the initial litigation of the case.

Public Employment, Whistleblowers, Wrongful Termination fulton county, georgia whistleblower act, gwendolyn warren, maria colon, whistleblowers

Contact Us Today

If you are seeking an attorney, completing the form below will allow us to determine if we can help. The more detail you can provide us, the better we can help.

Fields marked with a * are required.

Featured Cases

DeKalb County Jail Sexual Harassment Case Information

Radford & Keebaugh Attorney Dan Werner Files Class Action on Behalf of Workers Trafficked by Major New Jersey Temple

Attorney Profiles

Attorney Profile: James Radford

Attorney Profile: James Radford

Attorney Profile: Regan Keebaugh

Attorney Profile: Regan Keebaugh

Attorney Profile: Georgia Lord

Attorney Profile: Georgia Lord

Attorney Profile: Dan Werner

Attorney Profile: Dan Werner

Attorney Profile: Jake Knanishu

Attorney Profile: Jake Knanishu

Attorney Profile: Zachary Panter

Attorney Profile: Zachary Panter

Recent Articles

Wrongful termination and at-will employment

Are salaried employees entitled to overtime pay?

Do at-will employees have legal rights for wrongful termination?

Red flags in severance agreements 

Employee rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Serving Clients Throughout Georgia

Our offices are located in the heart of downtown Decatur, Georgia. We serve clients throughout the metro Atlanta area. In addition, we serve clients throughout Georgia, including DeKalb County including Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Clarkston, Doraville, Dunwoody, Stone Mountain, and Tucker; Forsyth County including Cumming; Fulton County including Alpharetta, Atlanta, Roswell, and Sandy Springs; Gwinnett County including Auburn, Berkeley Lake, Braselton, Buford, Dacula, and Duluth; RIchmond County including Augusta; Albany; Valdosta; Gainesville; Clarke County including Athens; Macon.

© 2023 decaturlegal.com · Rainmaker Platform