California Code, Government Code - GOV § 53296

(a) “Local agency” means any county, city, city and county, including any charter county, city, or city and county, and any district, school district, community college district, municipal or public corporation, political subdivision, or public agency of the state, or any instrumentality of any one or more of these agencies.

(b) “Disciplinary action” means any direct form of discipline as defined in personnel rules and regulations adopted by the local agency.“Disciplinary action” shall include the firing of an employee.

(c) “Disclosure of information” means the written provision of evidence regarding gross mismanagement or a significant waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

(d) “Complaint” means any written document containing a disclosure of information as specified in subdivision (c).

(e) “Employee” means any person employed by a local agency.

(f) “Manager” means any employee having significant responsibilities for formulating or administering local agency or departmental policies and programs or administering the local agency or a department.

(g) “Supervisory employee” or “supervisor” means any employee regardless of job description or title, having authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend this action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of this authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment.

(h) “Officer” means any appointed member of a local board, commission, or other governing body who supervises or is responsible for the work of one or more local agency employers.

(i) “Administrative procedure” means any written administrative procedure adopted by the local agency for presentation of a grievance for ultimate decision by the governing body of the local agency. The term does not include grievance procedures embodied in collective bargaining agreements.

(j) “Reprisal action” means any act of intimidation, restraint, coercion, discrimination, or disciplinary action against any employee, or applicant for employment, who files a complaint pursuant to Section 53297.