Whistleblower who merely objected in internal meetings to non-reporting of facts already known to the decisionmakers does not qualify for the protections of the federal statute.
State common-law employment protections are preempted by the state whistleblower statute.
http://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/164307p.pdf
Since 2011. An occasional commonplacing of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal.
Neither an authoritative statement of the law nor legal advice. Quick work.