Rebekah Jones, the former Florida Department of Health employee who garnered national attention by alerting media about inconsistencies in the number of coronavirus cases reported by the state, has been granted whistleblower status by the state Department of Health’s Inspector General, the Miami Herald reports.

Jones was fired from her state job for unauthorized contact with the media after she alerted journalists that the numbers the state was officially reported differed from the numbers being collected by local health officials.  She then set up an independent website showing the consolidated data taken from publicly-available resources.

Jones then had her home raided by Florida State Police who claimed she was illegally accessing state IT systems, a claim she denied, saying that the raid was retaliation from the administration of Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Being named a whistleblower provides Jones with some legal protections and signals that the department inspector general is not only investigating her claims but finds the claims credible.  It also provides Jones with additional standing in her complaint alleging she was fired as a retaliatory action for her “opposition and resistance to instructions to falsify data in a government website.”

A letter from Inspector General Michael J. Bennett said Jones’ complaint demonstrates “reasonable cause to suspect that an employee or agent of an agency or independent contractor has violated any federal, state or local law, rule or regulation.”

Jones could be reinstated to her position and receive back compensation from the day she was fired.  If the IG report finds the data had been altered as Jones claimed, she could file civil suits against various state officials, like DeSantis, and others for defamation.