The Sarbanes Oxley Act provides that the Federal Government can grant payment to individuals who report illegal actions in connection with securities offerings, and where the government finds that in fact illegal actions occurred.  The statute is often invoked to reward employees who advise the government of employer improprieties and awards can reach into the millions of dollars. .In 2017 a Manhattan jury found that a certain Mr.. Murray had been fired for refusing to alter his research relating to a mortgage-backed security.

The employer claimed that although they did in fact fire Mr. Murray, it was not because of his advising the government of any misdeeds, but rather for other reasons, and that Mr. Murray needed to prove that the firing was in fact retaliatory.  The Federal Government appeared in support of Mr. Murray and confirmed that the bare sequence of events, the reporting of the wrong and the firing, entitled Mr. Murray to his recovery.

While there is surface logic to the decision of the  Department of Labor to make the payment, thus not requiring an employee to in fact prove the state of mind of the employer, the ramifications of this decision are a bit scary.  If an employee turns in their guilty employer, can they then never be fired?  That clearly is not what this case stands for, but it does create a substantial burden on employers in connection with what is normally the prerogative of a business: except for clearly protected groups of employees who have special and express statutory protections relating to firings (labor organizing activity, age, race, military service leap to mind), employers have always assumed they were free to deal with employment without apology.

Add Federal whistleblowers to the list of protected employee groups!.