North Carolina’s New Property Protection Act or the “Ag-Gag” bill that just went into effect punishes whistleblowers of “Any” business for reporting the wrongdoings of employers.
The Property Protection Act, that went into effect today, aims to punish any employee who documents, records or removes a company’s information. In an attempt to make the poison pill more palatable the Republican Legislators worded it so it does not penalize whistleblowers as long as they report the wrongdoing to the “Proper Authorities “
The newly adopted North Carolina law, which will take effect on Jan. 1, 2016, provides for “civil remedies for interference with property.” It establishes a civil “right of action” for the owner or person in lawful possession of property if that property is wrongfully taken or carried away.
The target of recovery can be any person who enters the non-public area of another’s premises, including an employee who captures or removes data, paper records or documents and then uses the information to breach the person’s “loyalty to the employer.” The same liability falls on the employee who records images or sound or conducts electronic surveillance in non-public areas.
In a civil lawsuit, the employer could seek up to $5,000 per day for every day that violations continue. Civil payments going to the employer are not found in the typical criminal “ag-gag” law. The potential for “ag-gag” lawsuits has both animal welfare activists and industry talking about the North Carolina law. — Food Safety News
One of the bill’s sponsors, State Rep. Rodney Moore claims that the bill is about corporate espionage and not about punishing whistleblowers.
He did say that he would support amending the bill to protect employees exposing wrongdoing or possible criminal behavior after being called out on it.
However, opponents to this bill say that it will have a wide ranging impact, affecting the safety and well-being of everyone from older citizens to vulnerable children. As Reported by WSOC-TV, Attorney William Goldfarb said it would mean “Any” employee, which would include nursing homes or day care centers.
This reveal should be of concern to residents of any red state that may have passed similar AG-GAG bills. Most of which, are the result of the ALEC conservative bill factory. Most likely any ALEC published bills will contain the same legal wording which most GOP legislators usually don’t even bother to read before bringing them to a vote.
if your state has pasted a recent “AG-GAG” law it might need to be reviewed and amended if not repealed.