New Jersey Appeals Court Saves Wachovia from $3.6 Million Whistleblower Award

by Ramon Rivera

A New Jersey appeals court has overturned a $3.6 million whistleblower award against Wachovia after an employee alleged he was terminated for revealing fraud rather than for using his work email to share illicit images. The New Jersey whistleblower case was “unsustainable as a matter of law” and “should never have been submitted to the jury,” the appeals court held in Powell v. Wachovia Corporation, A-1727-10.

The plaintiff and eight other employees were fired after a random audit discovered they used their company e-mail accounts to share pornographic images. The plaintiff claimed he was fired in retaliation for objecting to a new compensation scheme that resulted in a reduction of sales commissions for Wachovia’s benefits producers.