{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-61.102","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 61.102","heading":"Reprisal against public employee for disclosure of violations of law","body":"prohibited -- Construction of statute.\n(1) No employer shall subject to reprisal, or directly or indirectly use, or threaten to use,\nany official authority or influence, in any mann er whatsoever, which tends to\ndiscourage, restrain, depress, dissuade, deter, prevent, interfere with, coerce, or\ndiscriminate against any employee who in good faith reports, discloses, divulges, or\notherwise brings to the attention of the Kentucky Legisla tive Ethics Commission,\nthe Attorney General, the Auditor of Public Accounts, the Executive Branch Ethics\nCommission, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky or any of\nits members or employees, the Legislative Research Commission or any of its\ncommittees, members or employees, the judiciary or any member or employee of\nthe judiciary, any law enforcement agency or its employees, or any other appropriate\nbody or authority, any facts or information relative to an actual or suspected\nviolation of a ny law, statute, executive order, administrative regulation, mandate,\nrule, or ordinance of the United States, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, or any of\nits political subdivisions, or any facts or information relative to actual or suspected\nmismanagement, wa ste, fraud, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific\ndanger to public health or safety. No employer shall require any employee to give\nnotice prior to making such a report, disclosure, or divulgence.\n(2) No employer shall subject to reprisal or di scriminate against, or use any official\nauthority or influence to cause reprisal or discrimination by others against, any\nperson who supports, aids, or substantiates any employee who makes public any\nwrongdoing set forth in subsection (1) of this section.\n(3) This section shall not be construed as:\n(a) Prohibiting an employer from requiring that an employee inform him or her of\nan official request made to an agency for information, or the substance of\ntestimony made, or to be made, by the employee to legisl ators on behalf of an\nagency;\n(b) Permitting the employee to leave his or her assigned work area during normal\nwork hours without following applicable law, administrative regulations,\nrules, or policies pertaining to leave, unless the employee is requested  by the\nKentucky Legislative Ethics Commission or the Executive Branch Ethics\nCommission to appear before the commission, or by a legislator or a\nlegislative committee to appear before a legislative committee;\n(c) Authorizing an employee to represent his o r her personal opinions as the\nopinions of his or her employer; or\n(d) Prohibiting disciplinary or punitive action if an employee discloses\ninformation which he or she knows:\n1. To be false or which he or she discloses with reckless disregard for its\ntruth or falsity;\n2. To be exempt from required disclosure under the provisions of KRS\n61.870 to 61.884; or\n3. Is confidential under any other provision of law.","path":["KRS Chapter 61"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=40158","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:49:14Z","sha256":"47466fc415a6f3166308150e693e0d5a825b732e0189bfbea46cf37e922eeaa5","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-61.101","next":"us-ky/krs-61.103"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}