This week big business signaled its intention to stymie the progress set in motion by the Administrative Review Board’s (“ARB”) ground-breaking decision in Sylvester v. Parexel last year. On April 30, 2012, the world’s largest business federation – the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – submitted an Amicus Curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals [...]

In a press release yesterday, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced its fiscal year 2013 budget request.  Although the Department actually lowered the amount it requested from last year – it sought $12.6 billion for 2012 compared to $12 billion for 2013 – it nevertheless recognized the importance of its whistleblower protection programs, and asked [...]

The DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released a newly updated manual for investigations of whistleblower retaliation. The manual, which replaces a previous edition from 2003, is part of a larger effort by OSHA to improve the handling of retaliation claims. OSHA is responsible for investigating employees’ whistleblower complaints under 21 federal statutes, ranging [...]

In the first decision interpreting the scope of Dodd-Frank’s whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions, a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York found in favor of the whistleblower, reasoning that the anti-retaliation provisions of Dodd-Frank do not apply only to those who provide information to the SEC, but also to those whose disclosures [...]

In a major victory for Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblowers, on May 25, 2011, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (“ARB”) issued a decision that resoundingly reaffirmed the scope of the whistleblower protections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”).  See Sylvester v. Parexel Int’l LLC, ARB Case No. 07-123 (ARB May 25, 2011).  The case rejected many of [...]

A ten-day trial ended this week with a federal court jury concluding that Shawn and Lena Van Asdale, former in-house attorneys for slot machine manufacturer International Gaming Technology (IGT), had been illegally fired in retaliation for raising concerns about possible shareholder fraud in IGT’s $1.4 billion acquisition of Anchor Gaming in 2001.  After raising these [...]

As more and more whistleblower retaliation cases are tried under the Sarbanes-Oxley act, judges continue to weigh in on its meaning and implications, fleshing out both its reach and its limitations.  In a setback for those seeking to empower and protect whistleblowers through the Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently [...]

The passage of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in late July of this year includes a robust strengthening of the protections already given to workplace whistleblowers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). In an effort to rein in the rampant financial misconduct that contributed in part to the 2008 financial [...]