Second Circuit -- Bechtel v. Admin. Review Bd.

To state a claim for retaliation under Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblowing prohibition, there must be protected activity of which employer was aware, subsequent adverse action to which the protected activity was a contributing factor.  PF claim can then be rebutted by employer's proof that it would have happened anyway.

As, apparently, it did in this case.  Despite the ALJ applying the wrong test.

Bechtel v. Admin. Review Bd.