By:  LINDSEY O’NEILL, ESQ.

I just read the article on the Wall Street Journal website about how Matthew Lee, a Sr. Vice President of Lehman Brothers who’d been with the company for 14 years, was “laid off” just weeks after he’d raised concerns about the company’s accounting tactics – particularly that the company was “moving” 50 billion dollars worth of assets off its books “temporarily” when regulators and investors starting scrutinizing the company more closely.  The company later declared bankruptcy. 

Ok, so there are a couple ways to look at this.  One way to look at it (which happens to be Lehman’s “official” comment) is that the company simply let go Mr. Lee as part of a “broader downsizing” at the firm.  After all, Lehman Brothers was certainly having financial trouble.  And its not uncommon for businesses in the midst of financial crisis to conduct lay-offs.  The other way to look at it, however, is the company retaliated against Mr. Lee for disclosing his concern that the company may have acted unlawfully, unethically, or in a way that resulted in harm to investors.   Or in simpler terms.. they got rid of the guy who starting complaining to auditors about the potentially bad things the company was doing.  

State and federal laws whistleblowers from retaliation by their employers.  If you believe that you have been subject to retaliation for protected whistleblowing, these laws may protect you.  If in fact your employer took an “adverse action” against you after you complained about something in the company that you believed to be illegal, unethical, a danger to public health and safety, or some other abuse or misconduct, then you may have grounds for a lawsuit against your employer.  Many employee handbooks also include a whistleblower policy, which if violated by your employer, could also be grounds for a lawsuit. 
 
For more information about whistleblowing and protection from retaliation, visit LawInfo’s Free Legal Resource Center on Whistleblowing.  See also the U.S. Department of Labor Whistleblower and Retaliation Protections.

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