I Got Fired For Reporting My Boss To The Fda For Selling To Minors

Thursday I reported my boss to the FDA for selling tobacco and nicotine products to minors, and today she sent me a text stating I was being let go for "conflicts of interest." I live in the southern USA, is there anything I can do about this short of contacting a lawyer? I made pretty much minimum wage and thus feel it would be a waste of money to hire a lawyer. I called corporate and told them about this and will be calling the FDA to follow up. I don't have a lot of proof outside of my word verses hers, but there is the camera footage from the incident that caused me to report and some screenshots of a messenger groupchat the day after informing us the tobacco board was out and to not sell to minors that work for the state, and I have the emails from the FDA confirming they received my report. She also texted the groupchat after removing me, telling them I was fired for a completely different and bogus reason than she told me. She said that it was due to me being disrespectful to her and customers, but I have multiple past coworkers willing to vouch for my work ethic and character on the job, as well as the fact that she did indeed sell to minors.

I'm guessing she found out because I was a dumbass and ran my mouth to a few coworkers that I probably shouldn't have. I'm willing to talk to lawyers but I doubt I could find any willing to do it without charging an arm and a leg. I'm 19 and in college so I don't have a bunch of loose funds.

I posted is previously on r/legal, and before anyone asks, I did check out the ATF website and it said to go through the FDA to report on the sales to minors. It's a pretty largish chain, about 45 locations. And this report wasn't just because she sold to one minor, it was a ridiculous amount of kids. I feel like a sting operation wouldn't catch her due to us being located in a relatively small town. She'll usually only sale to her kids, their friends, and kids she's seen before/knows. I contacted the DOL, and the lady on the phone said that because I haven't had any wages withheld or anything like that it wouldn't fall under retaliation. Most of the whistle blower laws I've found so far are mostly just for federal workers.

This is what I sent to the FDA:

(Boss), the manager at (store) in (town) took a 17-18 year Olds card and used them to buy nicotine pods, then went outside where the cameras couldn't see her to give them to the minor. This is far from the first time she has sold to minors, she often sells to her underaged children and their friends, and encourages her employees to do the same. This instance is one of the few cases where she has exited the view of the cameras, most often it is done at the register. At least one minor purchases tobacco/nicotine a day, though on most days, it is far more often. This particular instance occurred at around 3:35PM on March 6th, 2025. There are often minors coming in and stating "(boss) said to sell to me" and successfully completing a purchase of tobacco/nicotine. When (store) previously carried Delta 8/THC products they were also often sold to minors as young as 16. When there is a tobacco inspection coming up, (boss) informs all employees to ID everyone they don't know.