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Whistleblowers Whistleblower Protection Policies KBR (formerly Kellogg Brown & Root)

Littler

SEC Issues Cease-and-Desist Order Against Severance Agreement Clause Limiting Whistleblowers' Rights to Recover Bounty Awards

Littler on

On August 10, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a cease-and-desist Order and imposed remedial sanctions against a publicly traded company for including language in its severance agreements requiring...more

Thomas Fox - Compliance Evangelist

King Arthur Week – The Green Knight and the Protection of Whistleblowers – Part IV

We continue our King Arthur themed week with an exploration of one of the most interesting characters in the Arthur canon, The Green Knight, so called because his skin and clothes are green. The meaning of his greenness has...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

SEC Joins Agency Attack on Confidentiality Clauses in Employee-Related Agreements and Policies

In a recent enforcement action, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took action against a company for "using improperly restrictive language in confidentiality agreements with the potential to stifle the...more

Franczek P.C.

Confidentiality Clauses Under Increasing Scrutiny by Federal Agencies

Franczek P.C. on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has become the latest federal agency to challenge the legality of employee confidentiality requirements. Earlier this month, the SEC instituted its first administrative proceeding...more

Epstein Becker & Green

SEC Enforcement Gives Employers a Strong Incentive to Clarify That Their Confidentiality Agreements Do Not Preclude Reporting...

Epstein Becker & Green on

The Securities and Exchange Commission? (“SEC”) has resolved its first enforcement action regarding a potentially overreaching confidentiality agreement following the “voluntary” revision of the agreement to state that it...more

Blank Rome LLP

Beware of Confidentiality Agreements with Employees; Make Sure They Don’t Stifle Whistleblowing

Blank Rome LLP on

On April 1, 2015, the SEC announced its first enforcement action against a company for utilizing language in a confidentiality agreement which could discourage whistleblowing....more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

SEC Takes Aggressive Approach to Fortify Dodd-Frank’s Whistleblower Rules

On April 1, 2015, the Securities & Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or “Commission”) fined a public company $130,000 for requiring employees involved in internal investigations to sign a confidentiality agreement that the...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Five Key Issues Confronting Financial Services Industry Employers

Epstein Becker & Green on

Employers in the financial services industry are faced with a growing number of employment law challenges. Whistleblower complaints are on the rise as regulatory agencies become more aggressive in their efforts to encourage...more

Goodwin

SEC Applies Whistleblower Protections to Confidentiality Arrangements

Goodwin on

Public companies should review their confidentiality arrangements for any provisions that may result in unintended violations of the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower protections....more

Brooks Pierce

Three Thoughts about the SEC’s First “Pretaliation” Case

Brooks Pierce on

I was on a flight last Wednesday when the SEC released the first of what whistleblower chief Sean McKessy has dubbed “pretaliation” cases against KBR, Inc. When I landed I had several emails from colleagues, asking, “Did you...more

Benesch

The SEC is Taking a Closer Look at Confidentiality Agreements to Ensure Potential Whistleblowers Not Restrained

Benesch on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced on April 1, 2015 that it was instituting enforcement proceedings relating to the whistleblower provisions of the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer...more

Locke Lord LLP

Locke Lord QuickStudy: SEC Sends Clear Message - Companies Cannot Restrict Whistleblowers Via Employee Confidentiality Agreements

Locke Lord LLP on

On April 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action against a company for using improperly restrictive language in employee confidentiality agreements, noting that such limits...more

Allen Matkins

Could The SEC Ask Airlines To Produce Data On Delayed And Canceled Flights?

Allen Matkins on

The following story is fiction.   It was imagined following the SEC’s recently settled action against KBR, Inc. Airlines were caught completely off guard yesterday by SEC letters asking that they produce five years of...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

SEC Brings First Action Against Company for Potentially Stifling Whistleblowers With Confidentiality Statement

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged KBR, Inc., a Delaware corporation specializing in technology and engineering, with a Rule 21F-17(a) violation for using language in employee confidentiality statements...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

SEC Cracks Down On Employment Agreements That Stifle Corporate Whistleblowers

On April 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) gave a boost to corporate whistleblowers, reaching its first settlement with a company accused of stifling whistleblowing activity through the use of...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

SEC Challenges Employee Confidentiality Agreements

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced that it brought (and resolved) an enforcement action against a company for allegedly discouraging whistleblower complaints by requiring employees to sign...more

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense

SEC Announces Enforcement Action Regarding Employee Confidentiality Agreement

On April 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first settlement of an enforcement action under the SEC’s Rule 21F-17, which prohibits any person from taking “any action to impede an individual from...more

Foley Hoag LLP

SEC Charges KBR, Inc. with Using a Confidentiality Agreement that Could "Chill" Whistleblowing

Foley Hoag LLP on

About six months ago, the Director of the Office of the Whistleblower warned that the SEC was “going to bring a case where somebody has asked an employee or forced an employee to sign a document that in order of substance...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The SEC’s New Whistleblower Action: Is It Counterproductive?

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The SEC brought its first enforcement action centered on corporate restrictions which could impact employee whistleblowers, deterring them from reporting to the agency. ...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

The SEC Enforces Whistleblower Protection from Confidentiality Agreements

Earlier this week, 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....more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

SEC Cracks Down on Confidentiality Provisions that Restrict Whistleblowers

On April 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced an enforcement action and corresponding settlement arising out of an employer’s confidentiality agreement. The SEC contended that the agreement...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Don't Silence the Whistle: SEC Enforcement Action Attacks Employer's Confidentiality Agreement as Whistleblower Interference

On April 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action based upon improperly restrictive language in a Houston-based technology and engineering firm’s employee confidentiality...more

Littler

SEC's Attack on Confidentiality Agreements

Littler on

Keeping its promise announced last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 1, 2015, released a cease-and-desist order ("Order") declaring illegal a publicly traded company's use of a confidentiality agreement...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

SEC Announces First Enforcement Action Involving Restrictive Language in Confidentiality Agreement under Dodd-Frank Whistleblower...

On April 1, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action involving restrictive language in an employee confidentiality agreement that it contends has “the potential to stifle the...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

SEC Fines KBR $130,000 for Using Employee Confidentiality Agreement that Violates Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Protections

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has brought its first-ever enforcement action against a company for using language in confidentiality agreements that prohibits employees from speaking with the SEC without prior...more

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