Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Employment Law StrategistKickerFeaturesSectionsNewsLJN Newsletters

Courts Grapple with SOX Whistleblower Protections

By Robert P. Lewis and Brian S. Arbetter
November 29, 2005

Section 806 of the Corporate Accounting and Auditing, Re-ponsibility and Transparency Act of 2002, commonly known as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), prohibits publicly traded companies from discharging, demoting, suspending, threatening, harassing, retaliating against or in any other manner discriminating against their employees in the terms and conditions of employment for providing information or otherwise assisting in the investigation of conduct that they reasonably believe constitutes wire fraud, bank fraud, securities fraud or violation of any rule or regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or any provision of federal law relating to fraud against shareholders. It also prohibits filing, testifying in, participating in or otherwise assisting in a proceeding filed relating to a violation of such fraud laws. Section 806 has proven to be very popular with employees; since SOX's enactment in 2002, over 300 SOX whistleblower claims have been filed.

Courts and administrative law judges have begun grappling with issues concerning the scope of SOX's whistleblower provisions in two types of situations that any U.S.-based multinational corporation might encounter: 1) where the whistleblower is located and the whistleblowing occurred outside the U.S., and 2) where the whistleblower's employer is a nonpublic subsidiary of a publicly traded company.

This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs Image

A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.

Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners Image

Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.

'Insurable Interest' and the Scope of First-Party Coverage Image

This article reviews the fundamental underpinnings of the concept of insurable interest, and certain recent cases that have grappled with the scope of insurable interest and have articulated a more meaningful application of the concept to claims under first-party property policies.