The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently issued an interesting decision in Wang v. UNC-CH School of Medicine.  The majority agreed with the trial court in finding that employees who are excluded from the State Personnel Act are still entitled to protections under the North Carolina Whistleblower Act.  The plaintiff was an EPA Non-Faculty employee whose research grant funding from the NIH was rejected by her superior, thus eliminating funding for her position.  She filed a lawsuit under the Whistleblower Act and claimed that her termination was retaliation for a letter the employee sent to administrators that discussed errors in the grant proposals sent to the NIH for her superior’s research.  The Court of Appeals concluded that the plaintiff was covered by the Whistleblower Act because it covers “all State employees, public school employees, and community college employees.”  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 126-5(c1).  The Court, however, upheld the rejection of the plaintiff’s discrimination and constitutional claims.  Accordingly, the Court sent the case back to the University’s Board of Governors in order to permit the BOG to make adequate findings of fact addressing the Whistleblower Act claim.

Categories: Judicial Decisions Tags: Appeals, Case Commentary, Labor and Employment, NC Court of Appeals, State Employee, UNC, Whistleblower Act

The North Carolina Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Court of Appeals today, ruling instead for the plaintiff in Helm v. Appalachian State University.  Adopting Judge Calabria’s dissent, the Court held that the plaintiff has stated a valid retalation claim under the state’s Whitleblower Act because she opposed a waste of funds by the university.  Patterson Harkavy represented the plaintiff, Jane Helm, and Burton Craige argued the case before the Supreme Court.

Categories: Judicial Decisions, Results Tags: Burton Craige, Labor and Employment, NC Supreme Court, Patterson Harkavy, Results, Retaliation, Whistleblower Act