Employees in Minnesota have the right to feel safe and protected while they are at work. If they feel threatened in any legitimate way, they should not be made to feel that there is nothing they can do about it or that they will be punished for complaining about the problem. Yet this is what many workers face every day on the job.
This seems to be the case for one woman who says she is being retaliated against after she alerted authorities to corruption in the school lunch program in 2011. With her help, the former Board of Education President was convicted of fraudulently getting free and reduced price lunches for her children. The woman, a food services supervisor at the school, feels that because she did this, her employers are punishing her now by placing her in a room without windows for the remaining time on her contract. She says she has nothing to do and no one talks to her.
Out of 154 employees who are facing non-renewal of their contracts, the woman is the only one who is required to spend the remainder of her time in what is essentially solitary confinement. The others are either on paid leave or continue to perform their regular duties.
This employee should not have to put up with this apparent retaliation from her employer. She may want to consult with an attorney experienced in employment law to discuss her employee rights and find out what kind of recourse she has.
Source: News 12, “KIYC: Elizabeth school whistleblower claims she’s being retaliated against,” June 25, 2014