A UBS unit must provide back pay to a former analyst who said he was fired for blowing the whistle on illegal pressure to change research reports, the U.S. Supreme Court said in a unanimous decision Thursday that will make it easier for whistleblowers to win retaliation lawsuits.
Whistleblowers don’t have to prove they were terminated because of “retaliatory intent,” the Supreme Court said in its decision, reinstating a win at trial for analyst Trevor Murray.
The ruling means UBS must pay Murray about $900,000 in back pay and other damages. The decision also lowers the bar for whistleblowers who want to sue their employers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and possibly under other similar statutes.
Under Sarbanes-Oxley, employers aren’t allowed to fire or otherwise retaliate against employees because of their whistleblowing activities.
“This is a huge victory for whistleblowers all across the country, not only corporate whistleblowers seeking relief under Sarbanes-Oxley, but all those seeking damages for retaliation under the dozen government and nongovernment whistleblower-protection laws structured in exactly the same way,” said Robert Herbst, a lawyer for Murray.
www.wsj.com/articles/ubs-loses-to-whistleblower-in-wide-reaching-supreme-court-decision-da59349e
