SCOTUS reaffirms whistleblower protections in ruling against UBS

In a unanimous decision Thursday, the Supreme Court reaffirmed whistleblower protections guaranteed under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The case, Murray v. UBS Securities, centered around the termination of former UBS analyst Trevor Murray, who was tasked with writing independent research reports on UBS’s commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). Murray blew the whistle after he alleged he was pressured to write reports in a way that favored UBS’s products and sales strategies.

In its ruling, the court said whistleblowers don’t have to prove they were terminated because of “retaliatory intent”—a decision expected to set a precedent that impacts all corporate internal reporting cases in favor of whistleblowers.