A whistleblower is a person who exposes misconduct or dishonest or illegal activity occurring in an organization. The misconduct can include a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest, such as fraud, health and safety violations, or corruption. Whistleblowers may make their allegations internally (for example, to other people within the accused organization) or externally (to regulators, law enforcement agencies, the media or groups concerned with the issues).

The California False Claims Act protects whistleblowers from retaliation from their employer. Under Section 12653 of the California Government Code, employers may not make rules that prevent an employee from disclosing information to the government in furtherance of a false claims action. Nor can an employer discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, deny promotion to, or in any other manner discriminate against, an employee in the terms and conditions of employment because he or she has disclosed information to the government.