As you might guess, employers generally cannot fire employees for refusing to violate the law. Also, it is generally illegal for employers to fire an employee for refusing to cover-up the employer’s illegal actions. Sometimes this is referred to as “whistle-blowing.”
One example is Anderson v. Evergreen International Airlines, Inc., 131 Or App 726, 734, 886 P2d 1068 (1994). In that case, an airline company employee refused to violate FAA safety regulations and refused to cover-up the company’s past violations. The employee was then fired. The court found that the employee’s refusals were the full or partial cause of his termination and that the termination was unlawful.
Bottom line: Employees should not allow employers to coerce them into breaking laws or acting unlawfully. If such employees are fired for standing up to illegalities, the law has protections the employee can take advantage of.
