On February 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Murray v. UBS Securities LLC, holding that when employees allege retaliation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”), they do not have to establish their employer’s “retaliatory intent” to succeed on a whistleblower claim under SOX, but only that their protected activity was a “contributing factor” in the employer’s decision to take an adverse action against them.
Employers must be mindful of this decision if contemplating an employment action impacting an employee who alleged violations of securities laws that could implicate SOX.