South Carolina General Assembly
110th Session, 1993-1994

Bill 3682


Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


                    Current Status

Introducing Body:               House
Bill Number:                    3682
Primary Sponsor:                Boan
Committee Number:               25
Type of Legislation:            GB
Subject:                        Public employees, reports of
                                misconduct
Residing Body:                  House
Current Committee:              Judiciary
Computer Document Number:       JIC/5479HC.93
Introduced Date:                19930311    
Last History Body:              House
Last History Date:              19930311    
Last History Type:              Introduced, read first time,
                                referred to Committee
Scope of Legislation:           Statewide
All Sponsors:                   Boan
Type of Legislation:            General Bill



History


Bill  Body    Date          Action Description              CMN  Leg Involved
____  ______  ____________  ______________________________  ___  ____________

3682  House   19930311      Introduced, read first time,    25
                            referred to Committee

View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTIONS 8-27-10, 8-27-20, 8-27-30, AND 8-27-40, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE PROTECTION FROM ADVERSE PERSONNEL ACTIONS AFFORDED AND REMEDIES ALLOWED PUBLIC EMPLOYEES WHO REPORT CERTAIN MISCONDUCT, SO AS TO LIMIT PROTECTION TO INSTANCES WHERE AN EMPLOYEE HAS REPORTED IN WRITING TO AN APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY, TO DEFINE "REPORT", "APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY", AND "WRONGDOING", TO REQUIRE AN EMPLOYEE TO HAVE REPORTED WRONGDOING WITHIN SIXTY DAYS OF LEARNING OF THE ACTIVITY, TO ALLOW DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST AN EMPLOYEE WHO FILES A REPORT OF WRONGDOING IN BAD FAITH, TO PROVIDE FOR DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST A SUPERVISORY EMPLOYEE WHO RETALIATES AGAINST AN EMPLOYEE FILING A GOOD FAITH REPORT, TO REQUIRE AN EMPLOYEE WHOSE REPORT SAVES PUBLIC FUNDS TO ELECT BETWEEN THE MONETARY AWARDS AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS CHAPTER OR THE EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION PROGRAM, IF THE EMPLOYING AGENCY PARTICIPATES, TO ELIMINATE THE PRESUMPTION THAT ADVERSE PERSONNEL ACTIONS WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER REPORTING MISCONDUCT ARE WRONGFUL, TO REQUIRE AN EMPLOYEE TO HAVE EXHAUSTED ALL AVAILABLE GRIEVANCE OR OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES, WITH A FINDING THAT THE EMPLOYEE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISCIPLINED BUT FOR THE FILING OF THE REPORT, TO REQUIRE ANY ACTION BROUGHT BY THE EMPLOYEE TO BE A NONJURY CIVIL ACTION BROUGHT IN THE COUNTY WHERE THE EMPLOYMENT ACTION OCCURRED, TO LIMIT ACTUAL DAMAGES RECOVERABLE TO TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS, TO REQUIRE AN ACTION TO BE BROUGHT WITHIN ONE YEAR AFTER THE ACCRUAL OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION OR THE EXHAUSTION OF OTHER REMEDIES, AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE AMENDMENTS PROVIDED IN THIS ACT, NOT INCLUDING REVISED REPORTING REQUIREMENTS, APPLY TO ACTIONS PENDING BUT IN WHICH NO JUDGMENT HAS BEEN ENTERED AS OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE ACT.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 8-27-10 of the 1976 Code, as added by Act 354 of 1988, is amended to read:

"Section 8-27-10. For the purpose purposes of this chapter:

(1) `public body' means the following: any a department of the State; any a state board, commission, committee, agency, or authority; any a public or governmental body or political subdivision of the State, including counties, municipalities, school districts, or special purpose or public service districts; any an organization, corporation, or agency supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending public funds; or any a quasi-governmental body of the State and its political subdivisions.

(2) `employee' means an employee of the following: any a department of the State; any a state board, commission, committee, agency, or authority; any a public or governmental body or political subdivision of the State, including counties, municipalities, school districts, or special purpose or public service districts; any an organization, corporation, or agency supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending public funds; or any a quasi-governmental body of the State and its political subdivisions. `Employee' does not include those persons enumerated within the provisions of Section 8-17-370.

(3) `appropriate authority' means, respectively, the public body that employs the person making the report; or a federal, state, or local governmental body, agency, or organization having jurisdiction over criminal law enforcement, regulatory violations, professional conduct or ethics, or wrongdoing. If a report is made to an entity other than the public body employing the person making the report, the employing public body must be notified as soon as practicable by the entity that received the report. The term includes, but it is not limited to, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Solicitor's Office, the State Ethics Commission, the State Auditor, the Legislative Audit Council, and the Office of Attorney General.

(4) `report' means a written document alleging waste or wrongdoing that contains the following information:

(a) the date of disclosure;

(b) the name of the employee making the report; and

(c) the nature of the wrongdoing and the date or range of dates on which the wrongdoing allegedly occurred. A report must be made within sixty days of the date the reporting employee first learns of the alleged wrongdoing.

(5) `wrongdoing' means action by a public body which results in substantial abuse, misuse, destruction, or loss of substantial public funds or public resources. `Wrongdoing' also includes an allegation that a public employee has intentionally violated federal or state statutory law or regulations or other political subdivision ordinances or regulations or a code of ethics, which violation is not merely technical or of a minimum nature."

SECTION 2. Section 8-27-20 of the 1976 Code, as added by Act 354 of 1988, is amended to read:

"Section 8-27-20. No public body may discharge, otherwise terminate, or suspend from employment, demote, decrease the compensation of, discipline, otherwise punish, or threaten any employee of a public body whenever the employee with an appropriate authority of waste or wrongdoing or testifies as a witness in a trial, hearing, or other proceeding involving governmental waste or wrongdoing reports a violation of any state or federal law or regulation which involves a public body or any employee or official of a public body or whenever the employee exposes governmental criminality, corruption, waste, fraud, gross negligence, or mismanagement or testifies as a witness in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding involving any of the matters described in this section. If the employee reports, exposes, or testifies as provided in this section, without probable cause, he may be terminated from employment by the public body.

If the employee's report, expose', or testimony results in a saving of any public money from the abuses described in this section, twenty-five percent of the estimated net savings resulting from the first year of implementation of the employee's report, expose', or testimony, but not more than two thousand dollars, must be rewarded to the employee by the public body, as determined by the State Budget and Control Board. This chapter does not supersede the State Employee Suggestion Program. For employees of state agencies participating in the program, items that they identify involving waste or mismanagement must be referred as a suggestion to the program. An employee is entitled to only one reward either under this section or under the program.

(A) No public body may dismiss, suspend from employment, demote, or decrease the compensation of an employee of a public body because the employee files a report with an appropriate authority of wrongdoing. If the appropriate authority determines the employee's report is unfounded, or amounts to a mere technical violation, and is not made in good faith, the public body may take disciplinary action including termination. Any public body covered by this chapter may impose disciplinary sanctions, in accordance with its internal disciplinary procedures, against any of its direct line supervisory employees who retaliate against another employee for having filed a good faith report under this chapter.

(B) If the employee's report results in a saving of any public money from the abuses described in this chapter, twenty-five percent of the estimated net savings resulting from the first year of implementation of the employee's report, but not more than two thousand dollars, must be rewarded to the employee by the public body as determined by the State Budget and Control Board. This chapter does not supersede the State Employee Suggestion Program. For employees of state agencies participating in the program, items that they identify involving wrongdoing must be referred as a suggestion to the program by the employee. An employee is entitled to only one reward either under this section or under the program, at the employee's option."

SECTION 3 Section 8-27-30 of the 1976 Code, as added by Act 354 of 1988, is amended to read:

"Section 8-27-30. (A) It is presumed that an employee of a public body who is discharged, otherwise terminated, or suspended from employment, demoted, suffers a decrease in compensation, or is disciplined, otherwise punished, or threatened by a public body within one year after having reported a violation of any state or federal law or regulation which involves a public body or any employee or official of a public body; within one year after having exposed governmental criminality, corruption, waste, fraud, gross negligence, or mismanagement; or within one year after having testified as a witness in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding involving any of the matters described in Section 8-27-20 was wrongfully treated in one or more ways described in this subsection, whichever may be applicable. If the employee was wrongfully treated he may institute a civil action public body either for damages or for reinstatement to his former position and lost wages, or for both, in a jury or a nonjury proceeding, in the court of common pleas of the county in which the plaintiff resides at the time of commencing the civil action or the county in which the unlawful activity occurred.

(B) The presumption established under subsection (A) is rebuttable, and the burden is on the defendant to demonstrate that the plaintiff was not discharged, otherwise terminated, or suspended from employment, demoted, suffered a decrease in compensation, or was disciplined, otherwise punished, or threatened because he engaged in any of those activities described in Section 8-27-20. An employer has the following affirmative defenses to this section: wilful or habitual tardiness or absence from work; being disorderly or intoxicated while at work; destruction of any of the employer's property; malingering; and embezzlement or larceny of the employer's property.

(C) Any court or jury award under this section may include actual damages, court costs, and reasonable attorney's fees.

(D) Any action under this section must be commenced within two years after the accrual of the cause of action or forever barred.

(A) If an employee is dismissed, suspended from employment, demoted, or receives a decrease in compensation, within one year after having timely reported an alleged wrongdoing under this chapter, the employee may institute a nonjury civil action against the employing public body for reinstatement to his former position, lost wages, and actual damages not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars in the court of common pleas of the county in which the employment action occurred. No action may be brought under this chapter unless (1) the employee has exhausted all available grievance or other administrative remedies, and (2) any previous proceedings have resulted in a finding that the employee would not have been disciplined but for the reporting of alleged wrongdoing.

(B) An action under this chapter must be commenced within one year after the accrual of the cause of action or exhaustion of all available grievance or other administrative and judicial remedies or is forever barred."

SECTION 4. Section 8-27-40 of the 1976 Code, as added by Act 354 of 1988, is amended to read:

"Section 8-27-40. Notwithstanding the filing of a report any action taken pursuant to this chapter, a public body may discharge dismiss, otherwise terminate, or suspend, demote, or decrease the compensation of an employee for causes independent of those provided of the filing of a protected report as described in Section 8-27-20."

SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and applies with respect to any personnel actions taken after that date and to any actions previously filed under the provisions of Chapter 10 of Title 8 of the 1976 Code before the amendments to that chapter contained in this act but in which no judgment has been entered; however, the reporting requirement of Section 8-27-10(4) of the 1976 Code as amended by this act may not be used to dismiss any action that had been filed before the effective date of this act.

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