Blowing the whistle on your employer will always be a scary proposition for workers.

That can be true even after the whistle-blower leaves the employer. Take the case of loan officer Elizabeth Jacobson, who in 2008 alleged in a lawsuit that Wells Fargo offered bonuses to lenders who targeted blacks in Maryland for subprime mortgages. (Jacobson left the bank in 2007, under "less-than copacetic terms," according to the Baltimore City Paper. Over her career, she was reportedly the bank's top producer of subprime mortgage loans, and even earned a salary of $700,000 in 2004.) The bank never admitted wrongdoing, but in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore did agree to a $175 million settlement this past summer.