Reference no: EM1338999

Explain Whistle-Blowers Discussion

Please Discuss question below:

Q.: Debra Roxberry supervised the dry-cleaning department for Robertson and Penn, Inc. (R&P), a private contractor to the U.S. government for laundry and dry-cleaning services at Fort Riley, Kansas. Willie Dawson was an employee of an­other private contractor to the U.S. government, which operated the Central Issue Facility at Fort Riley. On one occasion, when Dawson was picking up some shirts from R&P, Roxberry informed him that the shirts had been washed instead of dry-cleaned, the process for which they had been delivered and that R&P was contractually obligated to perform. Roxberry was fired a short time later, and she sued R&P for wrongful dis­charge, alleging that she had been fired for "blowing the whistle" on her employer's violation of its contract with the government. Under the relevant state law, at-will employees have a cause of action against an employer for discharge in retaliation for whistleblowing. R&P contended, among other things, that Roxberry was not a whistleblower because she did not report the incident to the proper authorities but only to an employee of a private company. Will the court agree with R&P's conclusion that Roxberry was not a whistleblower? Discuss.