Firing an employee who steals confidential information, including the Social Security numbers of fellow employees, from the company’s computer system wouldn’t seem to be a risky proposition, particularly if he had signed a confidentiality agreement.
But in a decision that stunned employment defense lawyers, the Labor Department’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) recently said an employee who took such information to support a whistleblower report may be protected from retaliation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). The ARB reversed an administrative law judge (ALJ) who granted summary judgment on the grounds that the company had legitimate, nonretaliatory reasons for the termination.
