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Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act › Severance Agreements

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a United States federal statute signed into law on July 21, 2010. The Act was passed in response to the Great Recession of the late 2000s and... more +
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a United States federal statute signed into law on July 21, 2010. The Act was passed in response to the Great Recession of the late 2000s and includes broad reforms related to many aspects of the financial and banking industry. Notable sections of the Act include stricter regulations of the derivatives market, as well as the Volcker Rule, which restricts the trading practices of FDIC-insured institutions.    less -
BakerHostetler

Employers Beware: Broad Confidentiality and Severance Clauses May Violate Whistleblower Protection Laws

BakerHostetler on

Employers should check their confidentiality and severance agreements for a common oversight that, for some, is becoming a costly error. Recent enforcement activity by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Rule...more

Akerman LLP - HR Defense

Jingle All the Way to the SEC: Employers (Even Privately Held) Under Scrutiny for Language in Separation Agreements Impeding SEC...

Akerman LLP - HR Defense on

While jingle bells have only just begun to ring, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement bells have been ringing steadily throughout year. In recent months, the SEC announced significant settlements with...more

Freiberger Haber LLP

Enforcement News: SEC Charges Investment Advisor With Violating Whistleblower Protection Rule

Freiberger Haber LLP on

We have often written about the SEC’s whistleblower program and, in particular, the success of the program with respect to detecting and preventing violations of the federal securities laws. The success of the program...more

Sherman & Howard L.L.C.

The SEC Blows the Whistle on Improper Confidentiality Provisions

Sherman & Howard L.L.C. on

On Friday, September 29, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a cease and desist and $10 million civil money penalty against D.E. Shaw & Co, L.P. (“DESCO”). DESCO is a registered investment advisor...more

Holland & Knight LLP

SEC to Issuers: Retaliating Against or Impeding Whistleblowers Is Not Zen

Holland & Knight LLP on

Public companies should be mindful not to interfere with or retaliate against whistleblowers, and stretching is best reserved for the yoga mat, not the numbers in a company's public disclosures. So says the U.S. Securities...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Caution Advised For Language In Employment Settlement And Severance Agreements

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Over the years, the Securities and Exchange Commission has taken aim at common language in settlement and severance agreements regarding nondisclosure and confidentiality....more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

SEC Grants Eligibility Waiver to Issue Whistleblower Award

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently awarded $3 million to joint whistleblowers despite concluding that the whistleblowers did not satisfy the technical eligibility requirements for receiving an award. See...more

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

SEC Charges More Public Companies for Confidentiality Agreements That Might Deter Whistleblowers

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP on

In the past two years, the SEC has charged six public companies with violating SEC Rule 21F-17, which prohibits confidentiality agreements that could impede employees from making whistleblower claims directly to the SEC....more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

SEC Whistleblower Protection: Recent Cautionary Tales and New Best Practices

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP on

Although 2017 has barely begun, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has continued to aggressively pursue enforcement actions against companies for whistleblower-related violations. As part of its initiative, the SEC...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

OCIE Staff to Examine Registered Advisers' Policies and Agreements for Whistleblower Rule Compliance

Proskauer Rose LLP on

On October 24, 2016, OCIE published a risk alert noting that the SEC exam staff intends to examine registrants' compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act's whistleblower provisions. The alert noted recent enforcement actions...more

Stinson LLP

Emerging Trends Newsletter - Q3

Stinson LLP on

We are thrilled to bring you the third installment of Stinson Leonard Street's Emerging Trends newsletter. We are proud of the depth and breadth of experience and knowledge across our firm's 13 offices nationwide and are...more

Baker Donelson

Small Business Securities Bulletin: Standard Confidentiality Provisions May Be Prohibited "Pretaliation" in Eyes of SEC

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As we discussed in our June 2011 Bulletin, available here, SEC rules promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (Exchange Act), pursuant to Section 21F thereunder as enacted by the Dodd-Frank Wall...more

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog

OSHA Addresses Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Releases

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog on

We have written about SEC enforcement actions related to severance and confidentiality agreements that restrict reporting matters to the SEC. OSHA has also issued guidance regarding settlement agreements with whistleblowers...more

Polsinelli

SEC Takes Aim at Anti-Whistleblower Employment Agreements

Polsinelli on

On Aug. 15, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued its second fine in six days to an employer for drafting severance agreements that restricted former employees from collecting awards as whistleblowers. The fines...more

Burr & Forman

SEC Fines Company for Agreements Restricting Whistleblowers

Burr & Forman on

The SEC has fined an Atlanta company $265,000 for using various severance agreements restricting whistleblower activities. The Dodd-Frank Act added ’34 Act § 21F encouraging whistleblower programs. The SEC adopted Rule...more

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog

Recent SEC Enforcement Actions Prompt Consideration of Whistleblower Carve-outs

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog on

The recent settlement of SEC enforcement actions concerning the Dodd Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions are prompting companies and their counsels to evaluate current and prospective severance and confidentiality agreements...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Employment Law - August 2016

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP on

Arbitrator or Judge? California Supreme Court Weighs in - Why it matters - Yet again, the California Supreme Court considered arbitration in the context of an employment agreement, this time reflecting on whether a...more

Blank Rome LLP

Time to Review Your Severance Agreements

Blank Rome LLP on

In August 2016, the SEC issued cease-and-desist orders against two different companies for using severance agreements which required exiting employees to waive their ability to obtain monetary awards under the SEC’s...more

Fisher Phillips

SEC Cracks Down On Anti-Whistleblower Severance Agreements

Fisher Phillips on

The federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued six-figure fines to two different employers in the past several weeks, claiming that each crafted restrictive severance agreements that violated agency rules...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

Companies Should Revisit Severance and Other Agreements as the SEC Steps Up Enforcement Actions to Protect Whistleblower Rights

Womble Bond Dickinson on

In less than one week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced enforcement actions against two companies that had required their departing employees to waive their rights to any monetary recovery under the...more

Goodwin

Update: Another SEC Enforcement Action on Whistleblower Waivers and Releases

Goodwin on

Summary - Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its second significant enforcement action against an employer based on confidentiality and release provisions that the SEC asserts...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

SEC Targets Employment Agreements Requiring Waiver of Whistleblower Awards

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower continues to examine employee severance, settlement and confidentiality agreements for language that might chill reporting of securities violations to the SEC and other regulators. The...more

Sherman & Howard L.L.C.

Public Companies to Revise Employee Confidentiality and Severance Provisions

Sherman & Howard L.L.C. on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued two Cease and Desist Orders that dramatically change the landscape for employee contractual confidentiality provisions, as well as for employee waiver and release...more

Snell & Wilmer

Standard Severance Agreements May Need to Be Revised

Snell & Wilmer on

Many employers offer severance agreements to departing employees which, at least in part, are designed to protect the employer from disclosures of confidential information and from any future claims or recovery by the...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

The SEC Nixes Contractual Waivers of Whistleblower Recoveries

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on

In April 2015, the SEC announced in a first-of-its-kind enforcement action that certain KBR, Inc. confidentiality agreements violated the whistleblower protections of the Dodd-Frank Act by requiring employees and former...more

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