State entities have two main ongoing responsibilities with regard to the Whistleblower Protection Act. First, under Section 8548.2 of the California Government Code, each state agency must print notices containing information concerning the act and post the notices in locations where other employee notices are maintained (e.g. poster, memo to employees). Each state agency can publish the notice in any manner it chooses and may include its own introductory language in the notice, but cannot edit the text of the notice provided by our office. Annually, each state agency must send the information contained in the notice by electronic mail to all of its employees.
Second, under Section 20080 of the State Administrative Manual (SAM), state entities must notify the Bureau of State Audits and the Department of Finance of all cases of actual or suspected fraud, defalcation, theft, or other irregularities. The notification should be in writing and not later than the first business day following the discovery of these incidents. Our annual notification to the departments provides more specific information.
