OTHER STATUTORY PROTECTIONS In addition to the protections of the “whistleblower” law discussed above, other Minnesota laws prohibit employers from discriminating, retaliating, or taking adverse action against employees for exercising their legal rights. Some of these laws include the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the state and federal Fair Labor Standards Acts, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Workers’ Compensation laws, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and the Minnesota Parenting Leave law. Employers also may not take adverse employment action against employees whose wages are subject to garnishment, employees who are required to report child abuse and who do so, employees who participate in a strike, employees who are called to jury duty or who are summoned to court, and employees who request access to their personnel files as permitted by state law. The Clean Air Act, the federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Energy Reorganization Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, Asbestos School Hazard Detection Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Civil Service Reform Act, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the False Claims Act, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, the Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Surface Mine Reclamation And Control Act, the Toxic Substance Control Act and the Whistleblower Protection Program of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century all provide specific protections from termination for employees who report violations of these federal laws. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act protects investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws. The law includes a whistleblower provision aimed at protecting employees of publicly traded companies who report fraud against shareholders. In addition, employees are protected against discrimination when they have filed, testified in, participated in, or otherwise assisted in a proceeding filed or about to be filed against publicly traded companies relating to any securities law or other federal law pertaining to fraud against shareholders or any alleged violation. While Sarbanes-Oxley and the related rulemaking by the SEC and the stock exchanges has profoundly impacted the corporate governance and financial reporting processes at public companies, private companies should also pay attention to the provisions of these regulations and may realize benefits from improving their processes in order to respond effectively to internal or external complaints.
HUMAN RIGHTS
FEDERAL LAWS PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION Under Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is unlawful for any employer of 15 or more employees to refuse to hire, to discharge, or to treat employees differently in any way because of their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Employers may not limit, segregate, or classify employees in any manner so as to deprive them of employment opportunities or adversely affect a worker‘s employment status because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. All aspects of the employment relationship are covered.
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