In the case, Richard Trusz argued he was fired in 2008 from a UBS subsidiary in violation of his right to free speech after warning superiors the company overvalued properties in its portfolio by as much as $100 million. The Glastonbury resident, who worked in the Hartford office of UBS Realty Investors, sued in 2009.
The Connecticut Supreme Court Justices said in their ruling that the state constitution and state law ban public and private employers from disciplining workers for speech about ”˜”˜matters of significant public interest.”
Whistleblower statutes protect employees from retaliation by employers if they report wrongdoing, with government agencies offering a bounty for any money they collect in cases. The Securities and Exchange Commission reported receiving 37 whistleblower tips in Connecticut for the fiscal 2014 year ending in June. Of 3,620 nationally, that represented a 20 percent increase in just two years.
Much of that increase is the result of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, according to David Golub, a partner and attorney with Silver Golub & Teitell, which has offices in Stamford and Danbury.
“The decision is really important because ”¦ it rejects a restriction on actions by whistleblowers the U.S. Supreme Court imposed,” Golub said. “What the (U.S. Supreme Court) was struggling with was the conflict between an employee”™s right of freedom of speech, and a public employer”™s right to control what an employee can say.”
Robinson & Cole, which has a Stamford office, represented UBS Realty Investors in the case, which prompted reactions from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.
It is not just Dodd-Frank and the SEC generating increased whistleblower activity. Between the 2009 fiscal year when Trusz filed suit and the fiscal year ending June 2014, the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration reported five straight years of increased whistleblower cases filed nationally, combining for a 42 percent jump to 3,060 cases in all in fiscal 2014.
Of cases tracked by OSHA in 2014, more than half were dismissed, with just over 20 percent of cases reaching a settlement and just as many getting withdrawn.
Just 64 cases of more than 3,000 that year were found to have merit under a formal court review.
Golub said the Connecticut Supreme Court decision is reverberating nationally, and will prompt corporate personnel departments to review their policies. Choosing to become a whistleblower remains a daunting prospect, he added.
“When you become a whistleblower, it”™s not over within a week or a month or a year,” Golub said.
Hearst Connecticut Media includes four daily newspapers: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Advocate (Stamford) and The News-Times (Danbury). See ctpost.com for more from this reporter.
