Florida Justices Propose High Burden For Employee Whistleblowers

The Florida Supreme Court indicated Wednesday it favors strictly enforcing a private whistleblower statute, taking a dive into the dictionary to support requiring employees to prove “actual” violations to get protection.

A majority of the court said that the word “is” in the state’s whistleblower statue could mean the prevailing standard relying on a worker’s “good faith” belief of employer violations should be rejected.

The legislature “chose to define the wrongdoing,” said Chief Justice Carlos G. Muñiz. “It’s like you’re running up against a linguistic wall.”

For decades courts across the country have interpreted this language as requiring an employee’s ...