Not renewing employment contract is equivalent to firing whistleblower

When you’re applying the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA), there’s no distinction between employees and independent contractors, the state’s of appeals court recently ruled.

How WPA works

The WPA prohibits public employers from retaliating against employees who report the employer’s unlawful activity or take certain protected action, such as providing testimony—activities commonly known as whistleblowing. It’s well-settled an employee who has an expectation of continued employment can’t be fired in retaliation for whistleblowing.

An employee whose employment is based on a contract with a definite end date, however, cannot claim to have the same expectation of continued employment. A contract employee must know her employment isn’t guaranteed past the term of the agreement.

Facts

Melissa Velasquez was the director of a public college’s satellite campus. She claimed she complained to administrators about how certain expenditures were being handled, which would result in wasting federal funds.

Velasquez claims the employer retaliated against her for raising the concerns, but it didn’t terminate her contract. Rather, she was reassigned to a position that was virtually useless. The term of the employment agreement expired on June 30, 2014, and the employer simply notified her the contract would not be renewed.

Court’s ruling