We are seeing in real time what happens when an employee blows the whistle on his/her employer or when s/he complains about discrimination. Pres. Donald Trump has reportedly discussed firing the White House employees who have testified against him. He has discussed returning LTC Vindman to the Pentagon and firing Ambassador Bill Taylor after they testified against him. See CNN news report here. For a military officer, sending LTC Alexander Vindman back to the Army would amount to being relieved.

The President has also considered firing state department employees, George Kent and Marie Yovanavitch.

All employers consider responding to complaints in this way, to some degree. The difference between other government employers or many corporate employers is that Pres. Trump has likely received no training in values. Most government employers and many corporations utilize some form of training on values. One of those values is that persons who complain about discrimination or about violations of the law are protected. Even if you do not agree with their complaints, most managers agree their right to complain should be protected.

The President is famously resistant to legal advice. He will be even more resistant when he feels in real time the press of persons submitting public complaints about him. There is a reason why the better run organizations provide that training before the crisis, not during the crisis.

Of course, the larger issue for Pres. Trump is that one of those employees. Marie Yovanavitch has accused him os smearing her. If he actually fires her and others who support her, such an action would only corroborate the charges against him. That presents a different topic: clients who do not listen to advice from their lawyers.