New Laws: House Bans Firing Whistleblowers for Disobeying Orders to Break the Law

It's clearly against the law to fire an employee in retaliation for filing a whistleblower suit against your lab. So it goes without saying that the ban on retaliation also prevents you from firing an employee for refusing to obey an order to break the law.

Right?

Actually, not so right.

A Glitchy Little Loophole…
The CDC says its update reflects new data suggesting that Zika virus antibodies may stay in the body for months (beyond 12 weeks) in some infected individuals. Therefore, test results may not be able to determine how recently a person was infected.

…Which Is about to Be Plugged
And that's why on May 2, the House of Representatives passed a bill called The Follow the Rules Act to fix that and other glitches in federal laws, including an item making it clear that whistleblower retaliation protection covers employees who refuse to obey an order requiring them to break the law.

But Is Something Being Overlooked?
The bill, which is bipartisan legislation—yes, believe it or not, such a thing still exists—sponsored by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and Gerry Connolly (DVa.), is a clear no-brainer. But it's also fair to ask whether in fixing one quirk, the House may be creating another. After all, the bill is missing something pretty important, namely, clarification that the new protection from retaliation applies retroactively.