News & Analysis as of

Enforcement Actions Internal Investigations Confidentiality Agreements

Proskauer - Whistleblower Defense

NLRB Permits Confidentiality Restrictions During Internal Investigations

As reported in Proskauer’s Labor Relations Update blog, the NLRB issued an important opinion on December 17, 2019 relating to employer rules requiring confidentiality from employees during workplace investigations. Apogee...more

Fenwick & West LLP

“You Know How to Whistle Don’t You?”—Whistleblowers Gain Even More Protection

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The SEC recently issued guidance specifying that whistleblowers do not first have to take their concerns to the SEC in order to be covered by the SEC’s anti-retaliation rule. The guidance clarifies that those whistleblowers...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Securities Litigation and Enforcement Newsletter

Fenwick & West LLP on

A CD or not a CD, That is the Question… That the Auditors Should Have Answered - A headline-grabbing SEC enforcement action last week against BDO USA and several of its national partners may lead audit firms to insist on...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

A Review of Recent Whistleblower Developments

Foley & Lardner LLP on

SEC Awards Another Whistleblowing Compliance Officer - On April 22, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an award between $1.4 and $1.6 million to a compliance officer who provided information...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

WilmerHale

SEC Applies Whistleblower Interference Rule to Corporate Confidentiality Requirement

WilmerHale on

On April 1, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued—in a settled administrative proceeding—a cease-and-desist order in In the Matter of KBR, Inc., directing that the respondent cease violating Commission Rule...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

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Corporate Investigations & White Collar Defense - April 2015

It’s Stifling in Here! SEC Rules That Companies Can’t Put Restrictive Language in Confidentiality Agreements That Could Potentially Stifle Whistleblowers - Why it matters: On April 1, 2015, the SEC announced its...more

Baker Donelson

Can You Keep a Secret? The SEC Says to Ask Carefully

Baker Donelson on

Employers have a lot to be worried about. Employees are given access to trade secrets, customer lists, financial accounts, and other highly sensitive, confidential information. Most employers attempt to deter improper use of...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

Foley & Lardner LLP

SEC Blows the Whistle on Confidentiality Agreements

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Thanks to a recent enforcement action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it may be time to review and revise the confidentiality provisions in employment agreements, severance agreements, employee...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

SEC Says Employer's Confidentiality Agreement Violates Dodd-Frank

Employers paying severance to separated employees usually require written release agreements that include a confidentiality provision. The employee is prohibited from disclosing the existence of the agreement, or from...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

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

NAVEX

Do Your Confidentiality and Employment Agreements Violate SEC Whistleblower Protection Rules?

NAVEX on

As the SEC takes aim at whistleblower “pretaliation” (attempts to muzzle whistleblowers via confidentiality and other employment agreements—overt or otherwise) ethics and compliance officers need to take practical steps to...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

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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

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

"SEC Enforces Whistleblower Protection Rule Against Restrictive Confidentiality Agreement"

On April 1, 2015, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced its first enforcement action against a company for a restrictive provision in confidentiality agreements that could deter employees from using the...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

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