It is not considered retaliation legally. Whistleblowers, people who complain about bad treatment or sexual harassments or illegal practices in fact do have bigger problems to get hired.
The janitor at my old job sued his previous employer for racial discrimination. It was extremely egregious and well documented. He couldn't get hired anywhere else in his previous field because when you googled his name the court documents were the first thing that popped up.
Yep. I remember reading about a woman who was whistleblower - she exposed serious financial crime and even got special reward for it (from some non-profit). People involved in crime in fact ended up in prison.
Later, there was interview with her and she said she had huge problem to find a new job for years. Employers really did not like that she exposed someone else.
