HR - Whistleblowing

The European Directive for the protection of persons who report breaches of European Union law (the " Whistleblower Directive ") sets the minimum standards for protecting people who report EU law breaches.

A corporate whistleblower can create more financial, organizational, and reputational damage to an employer by using the federal False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. § 3729-33, than by using any other “whistleblower” law. While the FCA contains no requirement that the whistleblower be an employee to cr

Largely overshadowed by the rise in COVID-19 deaths and the January 6, 2021, siege on the Capitol, the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2019 (“the Act”) became law on December 23, 2020. See 15 U.S.C. § 7a-3. The Act, which Senator Chuck Grassley sponsored, prohibits employers from retaliat

With a vote split down party lines, on September 23, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved several amendments to rules governing its Whistleblower Program. The purpose of the amendments, according to the SEC, is “to provide greater clarity to whistleblowers and increase the pro

All viable whistleblower cases arise from allegations of wrongdoing serious enough to run afoul of some statute or rule. Common issues in every whistleblowing case include:

Whistleblower issues are in the news, mainly because a U.S. intelligence officer recently filed a complaint against President Trump under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act (ICWPA). The complaint, which asserts that the president engaged in improper conduct in interacting with t

On March 19, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced its highest ever Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”) bounty awards to three whistleblowers. These SEC awards represent a new milestone in the SEC’s ongoing efforts to incentivize would-be whistleblowers to report unlawful conduct directl

A former employee who failed to show he reported alleged securities law violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA), cannot claim his former employer unlawfully retaliated against him, federal Judge

On February 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers, Case No. 16–1276, resolving a circuit split on whether the Dodd-Frank Act (“Dodd-Frank” or the “Act”) requires employees to report externally to the SEC in order to be protected by the Act’s ant

The anti-retaliation provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 protects only employees who complain directly to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Supreme Court has held in a unanimous decision. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers, No. 16

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced the appointment of William D. Duhnke III as Chairman and J. Robert Brown, Kathleen M. Hamm, James G. Kaiser, and Duane M. DesParte as board members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 estab

In a late-August decision with potentially far-reaching implications for foreign and multinational employers, the United States Department of Labor Administrative Review Board (ARB) held that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's (SOX) whistleblower provisions have extraterritorial application—in apparent contra

A recent Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling may offer employers in North and South Carolina another defense against an employee’s retaliation claim: No liability for adverse action against an employee based on the employer’s genuine belief that the employee made a false complaint of discriminati

On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review whether the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions protect employees who only complain internally to their employer, but do not complain directly to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In doing so, the Court may r

In Somers v. Digital Realty Trust, 15-17352 (9th Cir. March 8, 2017), a split Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals widened an existing circuit court split by ruling that Section 21F of the Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”) protects individuals who make internal disclosures as well as those who make disclosures to th

A California federal jury awarded Sanford Wadler, former General Counsel of Bio-Rad Laboratories, $8 million for his claims against his former employer under the whistleblower provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and the Dodd-Frank Acts (DFA). This case implicates a number of key issues confronting co

On Friday, September 30, 2016, U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Administrative Review Board (ARB) issued its highly anticipated decision in Palmer v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, ARB No. 16-035 (2016), correcting its much-criticized decision in Fordham v. Fannie Mae, ARB No. 12-061 (2014). I

On August 30, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it surpassed the $100 million mark in monetary awards for whistleblowers. Through the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (“Dodd-Fr

Earlier this summer, in Beacom v. Oracle, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment dismissing the SOX and Dodd Frank Act claims of an employee who was fired from his Vice President position after he says that he complained about changes in his employer’s financial f

Company agreements with employees continue to be under fire. In the latest example, the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a cease-and-desist order against BlueLinx Holdings Inc. over the use of severance agreements the agency found improperly interfered with the rights of potential whist