Loose Lips Sink Ships! Can an Employer Ask a Whistleblower to Keep Her Complaints “Confidential”?

Hypothetical, based upon a real fact pattern: Sally works for a chair manufacturer and believes the chairs are made with unsafe and illegal toxins. Sally reports her concerns to the head of HR. Sally also says that she thinks her supervisor is “harassing” her for raising this with him because he gave her a bad performance rating. The HR Head thanks Sally for raising her concerns and makes it clear that he appreciates Sally bringing this to his attention and tells Sally that the Company takes such issues extremely seriously. He also states that the Company policy forbids retaliation in any form against any employee for reporting such actions. He also then says that the Company will investigate the allegations and that as part of that investigation it will need to determine what other employees it may need to speak with. In order not to “tip off” other employees in advance and also to protect confidentiality to the extent possible, the HR Head asks Sally not to discuss the investigation with other employees and to keep the investigation confidential. Not more than 10 minutes after Sally leaves his office, the HR Head gets a call that Sally is out on the shop floor loudly telling other employees that she thinks the chairs are made with  unsafe and illegal toxins and that she has reported it to HR and may also inform the government of her concerns. Can the employer discipline Sally for violating its instructions to maintain confidentiality?

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