In May 2006, Andrea Brown learned a juicy secret about her boss.

Brown, an employee at Lockheed Martin Corp., found out that her supervisor, Wendy Owen, was misusing the corporate pen-pal program, which was meant to boost the morale of soldiers deployed in Iraq. Owen was having multiple sexual affairs with soldiers she had met through the program. She was also using company funds to pay for transportation, hotels and gifts for her lovers, and she was passing these expenses on to Lockheed's clients.

Brown notified human resources and the director of her department about Owen's misconduct. Both promised to take action and keep her complaint anonymous, but instead, Brown says she started receiving unsatisfactory performance reviews and was demoted. The company moved her desk to a storage room. Brown became deeply depressed and eventually quit her job.