Nebraska Whistleblower Protections

81-2703 –

(1) Agency shall mean any agency, department, board, commission, or other governmental unit of the State of Nebraska acting or purporting to act by reason of connection with the State of Nebraska but shall not include (a) any court, (b) any member or employee of the Legislature or the Legislative Council, (c) the Governor or his or her personal staff, (d) any political subdivision or entity thereof, (e) any instrumentality formed pursuant to an interstate compact and answerable to more than one state, or (f) any entity of the federal government;

(2) Employee shall mean any person employed by an agency, regardless of rank;

81-2705 –

Any person who has authority to recommend, approve, direct, or otherwise take or affect personnel action shall not, with respect to such authority:

(1) Take personnel action against an employee because of the disclosure of information by the employee to the Public Counsel or an official which the employee reasonably believes evidences wrongdoing;

(2) Take personnel action against an employee as a reprisal for the submission of an allegation of wrongdoing or a violation of this section to the Public Counsel or official by such employee; or

(3) Take personnel action against an employee as a reprisal for providing information or testimony, pursuant to an investigation or hearing held under the State Government Effectiveness Act, to the Public Counsel, an official, the State Personnel Board, a corresponding personnel appeals board, or the director or chief operating officer of an agency.

81-2709 –

(1) An employee aggrieved by the decision rendered pursuant to subsection (1) of section 81-2707 who has been or is about to be injured by a violation of section 81-2705 shall be entitled to maintain a cause of action pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act for damages, reinstatement, backpay, and such other relief, including preliminary relief, as the court may deem appropriate. An employee who prevails in an action under this subsection shall receive reasonable attorney’s fees incurred during the action.

(2) In an action brought pursuant to subsection (1) of this section by an employee who establishes that a personnel action was taken against him or her after he or she submitted an allegation of wrongdoing or provided information to the Public Counsel, his or her investigators, employees, or agents, or an official in conjunction with a preliminary or formal investigation undertaken pursuant to section 81-2704, the personnel action shall be presumed to have been taken against such employee because of such allegation. Such presumption may be rebutted by appropriate evidence.

Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 48-1101 – 48-1126

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1102

(1) Person shall include one or more individuals, labor unions, partnerships, limited liability companies, associations, corporations, legal representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts, unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, or receivers;

(7) Employee shall mean an individual employed by an employer;

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1114

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer to discriminate against any of his or her employees or applicants for employment, for an employment agency to discriminate against any individual, or for a labor organization to discriminate against any member thereof or applicant for membership, because he or she (1) has opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by the Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act, (2) has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under the act, or (3) has opposed any practice or refused to carry out any action unlawful under federal law or the laws of this state.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1104

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer:

(1) To fail or refuse to hire, to discharge, or to harass any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, or national origin; or

(2) To limit, advertise, solicit, segregate, or classify employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect such individual’s status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, or national origin.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1105

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, or national origin, or to classify or refer for employment any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, or national origin

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1106

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for a labor organization:

(1) To exclude or to expel from its membership, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, or national origin;

(2) To limit, segregate, or classify its membership, or to classify or fail or refuse to refer for employment any individual, in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities, or would limit such employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect such individual’s status as an employee or as an applicant for employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, or national origin; or

(3) To cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate against an individual in violation of this section.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1107

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for any employer, labor organization, or joint labor-management committee controlling apprenticeship or other training or retraining, including on-the-job training programs to discriminate against any individual because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, marital status, or national origin in admission to, or employment in, any program established to provide apprenticeship or other training.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1107.01

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for a covered entity to discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.

***Note: 2015 Nebraska Laws L.B. 627 will update the above to include protections for pregnant women, women who have given birth, and women with conditions related to child birth, as a specific protected class.

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-1119

(3) After the conclusion of the hearing, the commission shall, within ten days of the receipt of the transcript or the receipt of the recommendations from the hearing officer, make and file its findings of fact and conclusions of law and make and enter an appropriate order. The hearing officer need not refer to the page and line numbers of the transcript when making his or her recommendation to the commission. Such findings of fact and conclusions of law shall be in sufficient detail to enable a court on appeal to determine the controverted questions presented by the proceedings and whether proper weight was given to the evidence. If the commission determines that the respondent has intentionally engaged in or is intentionally engaging in any unlawful employment practice, it shall issue and cause to be served on such respondent an order requiring such respondent to cease and desist from such unlawful employment practice and order such other affirmative action as may be appropriate which may include, but shall not be limited to, reinstatement or hiring of employees, with or without backpay. Backpay liability shall not accrue from a date more than two years prior to the filing of the charge with the commission. Interim earnings or amounts earnable with reasonable diligence by the person or persons discriminated against shall operate to reduce the backpay otherwise allowable.

(4) A complainant who has suffered physical, emotional, or financial harm as a result of a violation of section 48-1104 or 48-1114 may, at any stage of the proceedings prior to dismissal, file an action directly in the district court of the county where such alleged violation occurred. If the complainant files a district court action on the charge, the complainant shall provide written notice of such filing to the commission, and such notification shall immediately terminate all proceedings before the commission. The district court shall docket and try such case as any other civil action, and any successful complainant shall be entitled to appropriate relief, including temporary or permanent injunctive relief, general and special damages, reasonable attorney’s fees, and costs.