News & Analysis as of September 25, 2024

Securities Exchange Act › Severance Agreements

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The Securities Exchance Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1934 to govern the secondary securities trading market. In addition, the Securities Exchange Act established the Securities and Exchange... more +

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

Holland & Knight LLP on 6/12/2023

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

SEC Grants Eligibility Waiver to Issue Whistleblower Award

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on 6/7/2019

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

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

Baker Donelson on 10/3/2016

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

Update: Another SEC Enforcement Action on Whistleblower Waivers and Releases

Goodwin on 8/22/2016

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

SEC Targets Employment Agreements Requiring Waiver of Whistleblower Awards

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on 8/22/2016

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

Public Companies to Revise Employee Confidentiality and Severance Provisions

Sherman & Howard L.L.C. on 8/22/2016

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

Standard Severance Agreements May Need to Be Revised

Snell & Wilmer on 8/22/2016

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

SEC Continues To Scrutinize Separation Agreements

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 8/19/2016

On August 16, 2016, the SEC announced that Health Net Inc. (Company) agreed to pay a $340,000 penalty to settle charges that it violated Rule 21F-17 by using severance agreements that allegedly prohibited its employees from...more

SEC Continues to Target Employer Agreements Restricting Whistleblower Rights

Dechert LLP on 8/19/2016

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) recently announced the settlement of two cease-and-desist proceedings against employers alleged to have unlawfully restricted employees’ rights to engage...more

Public Company Sanctioned by SEC for Including Illegal Anti-Whistleblower Provisions in Severance Agreements

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP on 8/17/2016

In a speech on April 30, 2015. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Mary Jo White noted that... ...more

SEC Fines Company for Agreements Restricting Whistleblowers

Burr & Forman on 8/15/2016

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....more

SEC Penalizes Company For Severance Language Purportedly Impeding Complaints

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense on 8/12/2016

On August 10, 2016, the SEC announced that BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (Company) is settling charges that it violated Rule 21F-17 by requiring outgoing employees to waive whistleblower bounty awards in connection with severance...more

SEC Bounty Hunters Take Heart: SEC Fines Company $265,000 for Using Severance Agreements That Provided a Waiver of any Monetary...

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP on 8/12/2016

Wednesday, the SEC announced that an Atlanta-based company, BlueLinx Holdings, is settling charges that its severance agreements contained provisions that in its view might impede employees from communicating directly with...more

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Securities Exchange Act › Severance Agreements

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