The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas v. Larry M. Gentilello, M.D.

The Texas Whistleblower Act bars retaliation against a public employee who reports his employer’s or co-worker’s “violation of law” to an “appropriate law enforcement authority” — defined as someone the employee “in good faith believes” can “regulate under or enforce” the law allegedly violated or “investigate or prosecute a violation of criminal law.” 1 We consider today whether an employee’s report to a supervisor is a report to an appropriate law-enforcement authority under the Act where the employee knows his supervisor’s power extends only to ensuring internal compliance with the law…