On August 6, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted an employer’s motion for summary judgment on a SOX whistleblower retaliation counterclaim, holding that the former employee failed to...more
On July 26, 2024, the SEC announced an award of more than $37 million to a whistleblower who first reported misconduct internally and subsequently provided information and assistance that led to a successful SEC enforcement...more
2023 was another groundbreaking year for whistleblower litigation and bounty awards.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shattered records by issuing a $279 million award and continued to actively enforce the...more
12/20/2023
/ CFTC ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
Fraud ,
Medicare Billing Privileges ,
OSHA ,
Qui Tam ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Separation Agreement ,
United States ex rel Polansky v Executive Health Resources Inc ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On September 25, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board’s rejection of an employee’s Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX) retaliation claim, holding the...more
A recent California district court addressed the question of whether, for insurance coverage purposes, a SOX whistleblower claim is a “securities claim,” and answered that question in the affirmative. Skye Bioscience v....more
On May 5, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that the company demonstrated that it would...more
On April 19, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the defendant-employer’s motion to dismiss a complaint seeking court enforcement of a preliminary reinstatement order after determining that...more
On February 28, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois granted a defendant-employer’s motion to dismiss a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that the plaintiff failed to adequately plead...more
On February 15, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on SOX whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that the plaintiff failed to...more
On January 4, the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a former bank executive’s whistleblower retaliation claims, holding that two procedural errors doomed his case: he sued before exhausting his administrative remedies;...more
On December 6, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on whistleblower retaliation claims brought under SOX and the Consumer Financial...more
2022 saw highly impactful whistleblower and retaliation events primarily resulting from an active U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an aggressive approach taken by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and...more
1/4/2023
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
NEPA ,
OSHA ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Uber ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On August 26, 2022, the Third Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer, holding that whistleblower retaliation protections in the False Claims Act did not protect an employee from being discharged...more
On October 20, 2022, the Ninth Circuit reversed in part a grant of summary judgment in favor of an employer, finding that the district court misapplied the substantive law of California in holding that Plaintiff’s disclosures...more
11/3/2022
/ CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Federal Contractors ,
NEPA ,
Noncompliance ,
Retaliation ,
Summary Judgment ,
Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wrongful Termination
On July 20, 2022, the Tenth Circuit affirmed a $1 million jury award to a former employee who claimed he was demoted in retaliation for reporting that his supervisor instructed him to falsify test results on a program used by...more
On August 5, 2022, the Second Circuit overturned a nearly $1 million jury award granted to a former employee of UBS Securities LLC (“UBS”). The Court held that the judge’s instruction to the jury—that Plaintiff was “not...more
On June 7, 2022, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, relying on recent ARB decisions, held that a plaintiff who lived and worked for a Canadian subsidiary of a US company could not avail...more
7/18/2022
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Foreign Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Reporting ,
Multinationals ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On March 29, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida held that in order to engage in protected conduct under the False Claims Act (“FCA”), a plaintiff must specifically suspect that their employer...more
6/16/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Reporting ,
Opioid ,
Pain Management ,
Protected Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Whistleblowers
On February 10, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced two proposed amendments to its whistleblower program rules.
As we previously reported, a closely divided SEC adopted a final rule implementing...more
2/17/2022
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Comment Period ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Internal Reporting ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Public Comment ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Retaliation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Whistleblower Awards ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
The California Supreme Court has resolved an inconsistency that has divided the courts as to the proper evidentiary standard necessary to prove a whistleblower retaliation claim....more
2/10/2022
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Burden of Proof ,
CA Supreme Court ,
California ,
Evidence ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Reform ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
2021 was another blockbuster year in the whistleblowing and retaliation arena. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Office of the Whistleblower has now issued in excess of $1 billion in whistleblower...more
1/12/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Internal Reporting ,
OSHA ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Theranos ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On June 28, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted the Company’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss after an executive claimed he was discharged in violation of the Dodd-Frank...more
11/11/2021
/ Brazil ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dismissals ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Federal Rule 12(b)(6) ,
Government Investigations ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Internal Reporting ,
Retaliation ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statutory Violations ,
Tax Fraud ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On October 28, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill dramatically expanding New York’s whistleblower statute, New York Labor Law § 740, which is scheduled to take effect on January 26, 2022. ...more
On July 26, 2021, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California held, after a bench trial, that Plaintiff Botta failed to prove that Defendant PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PwC”) terminated his...more
On April 12, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted a defendant-employer’s motion for summary judgment on a SOX whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that the company demonstrated...more