The 1st District Court of Appeals in San Francisco recently sided with a former College of Marin administrator who claimed to have been demoted from her position for bringing up concerns regarding matters she thought were illegal. Along with ruling in her favor, the District Court of Appeals also clarified what protections a California whistleblower has.

According to the woman, she worked as an administrator from 1981 to 2007. In 2006 she brought up some concerns to her supervisor and the college's president. Among those concerns was that a program that uses district funds to provide scholarships was favoring Latino students. Additionally, she was also concerned about a policy her supervisor implemented that allowed for students who had unpaid fees to still be able to register for classes.

Lastly, she also questioned why her supervisor removed information related to residency and citizenship from admissions applications.

After voicing these concerns, suddenly the college reorganized, her title was changed and she was taken off of the Academic Standards committee. She considered this move to be a demotion in response to questioning the actions of her supervisor.

Then, in 2007, at the recommendation of her supervisor and the college's president, she was put on administrative leave. Since she was tenure, she took a job at the college as a counselor, but did file a lawsuit against the Marin Community College District.

She lost at the original trial after the judge directed the jury to decide whether the woman's whistleblower complaints were due to personal reasons, or because she was acting in good faith.

However, in the recent appeals decision, it was made clear, that in the state of California an employee should be granted the same whistleblower protections regardless of why concerns are voiced, as often times a personal reason may in fact be what motivates an employee to report conduct that could be a violation of the law or be considered misconduct.

Source: Marin Independent Journal, "California appellate court upholds College of Marin 'whistleblower' appeal," Rob Rogers, Jan. 13, 2012