When an unhappy employee took American Airlines to court alleging the company retaliated against him for engaging in whistleblower activity, American’s lawyers probably thought victory was a sure thing. The company temporarily had placed the employee on a layoff list, but removed him from it before firing him. Such a minor change in status hardly seemed to be an “adverse employment action” that would give rise to a claim under Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
American also had precedents on its side–several courts and Department of Labor administrative law judges (ALJs) had ruled in the past that such an action wasn’t retaliation. But unfortunately for American, the ALJ that heard its case disagreed and ruled Dec. 9, 2004, in the employee’s favor.
