Patten v. Grant Joint Union High School Dist

In Patten v. Grant Joint Union High School Dist. (2005) 134 Cal.App.4th 1378, a school principal sued a school district for whistleblower retaliation under Labor Code section 1102.5, subdivision (b), which prohibited employers from retaliating against employees " 'for disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, where the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or violation or noncompliance with a state or federal regulation.' " (134 Cal.App.4th at p. 1381.) The principal based her claim on four disclosures, three of which are relevant here. (134 Cal.App.4th at p. 1381.) In one instance, the principal received complaints from female students that a male physical education teacher was peering into the girl's locker room, and she disclosed that information to her district supervisors for personnel action. (Id. at p. 1382.) The second relevant disclosure concerned an "off-color remark" made by a science teacher to a female student. The principal disclosed that information to her superiors for personnel action. (Ibid.) The third relevant disclosure involved the issue of school safety. (Ibid.) At various points in time, including after a student was assaulted on campus, the principal requested additional staff to keep the campus safe. (Ibid.) In affirming the trial court's finding that none of those disclosures constituted protected whistleblowing, we explained that the principal's complaints were made in the context of internal personnel or administrative matters, rather than in the context of legal violations. (Id. at pp. 1384-1385.) "The disclosures involving the two teachers do not amount to whistleblowing as a matter of law because, although the disclosures were made by a government employee ... to a government agency ... , the disclosures indisputably encompassed only the context of internal personnel matters involving a supervisor and her employee, rather than the disclosure of a legal violation." (Ibid.) Likewise, the principal's disclosures "about needing more staff for safety purposes ... were made in an exclusively internal administrative context. They do not show any belief on the principal's part that she was disclosing a violation of state or federal law in any sort of whistleblowing context ... ." (Id. at p. 1385.) As the Court explained, to exalt these "disclosures with whistleblower status would create all sorts of mischief. Most damagingly, it would thrust the judiciary into micromanaging employment practices and create a legion of undeserving protected 'whistleblowers' arising from the routine workings and communications of the job site." (Ibid.)