CDI Whistle-Blower Goes Back to Work

Cindy Ossias, the attorney in the California Department of Insurance (CDI) who disclosed several preliminary market conduct examinations to the Legislature, will not lose her job at the Department.

Acting Insurance Commissioner Clark Kelso issued a statement yesterday that Ossias was protected by California’s whistle-blower statutes, which protect employees who expose improper or illegal goverment conduct.

“I agree with the Legislature’s findings and declarations that ‘state employees should be free to report waste, fraud, abuse of authority, violation of law, or threat to public health without fear of retribution,'” Kelso said. Kelso said that Ossias was “to be commended for her extraordinarily difficult, courageous decision to make a disclosure of information when she thought she might suffer adverse consequences.”

Kelso waited to review an investigative report from the California Highway Patrol and a legal analysis from the Department of Justice before making the decision. He also called for improvements and clarifications to be made for the existing whistleblower statutes.

Topics California