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.
