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Rule 21F Whistleblowers Whistleblower Protection Policies

Epstein Becker & Green

Employers Beware: SEC Targets Employment Agreements Under Whistleblower Protection Rules

Epstein Becker & Green on

Less than two weeks after it last penalized a private employer for alleged violations of whistleblower protection rules in its employee separation agreements, the Security and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) once again takes aim...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Overblown? SEC's Aggressive Enforcement of Rule 21F-17 for Whistleblower Protection

Holland & Knight LLP on

Section 21F, titled "Whistleblower Incentives and Protection," is a set of provisions within the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that govern, among other things, the rights and obligations of SEC whistleblowers and the...more

Hogan Lovells

SEC issues proposal to amend rules to incentivise whistleblowers

Hogan Lovells on

On February 10, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed amendments to Exchange Act Rules 21F-3 and 6, which govern the implementation of its whistleblower program. These amendments increase the SEC’s...more

Goodwin

SEC Proposes Changes To Whistleblower Program Rules

Goodwin on

On February 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed two amendments to the rules governing its whistleblower program, Exchange Act Rules 21F-3 and 6. “These amendments, if adopted, would help ensure that...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

The New SEC Whistleblower Rules: Improving A Successful Program Or Undermining It?

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“Commission” or “SEC”) whistleblower program has, by all accounts, been a huge success.  Added to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”) as Section 21F by the...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

SEC Grants Eligibility Waiver to Issue Whistleblower Award

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

WilmerHale

Supreme Court Articulates Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Definition in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers

WilmerHale on

On February 21, 2018, the Supreme Court held in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers that the anti-retaliation whistleblower protections under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Supreme Court Decides Digital Realty Trust v. Somers, No. 16-1276

On June 19, 2107 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Digital Realty Trust v. Somers, holding that the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on employer retaliation against whistleblowers extends only to individuals who have reported...more

Cooley LLP

Blog: SCOTUS Says Whistleblowers Must Whistle All The Way To The SEC

Cooley LLP on

Today, SCOTUS handed down its decision in Digital Realty v. Somers, a case addressing the split in the circuits regarding the application of the Dodd-Frank whistleblower anti-retaliation protections: do the protections apply...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Supreme Court Set To Decide Whether Dodd-Frank Protects Internal Whistleblowers

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review whether the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions protect employees who only complain internally to their employer, but do not complain directly...more

Nossaman LLP

A Divided Ninth Circuit Extends Dodd-Frank's Anti-Retaliation Protection for Whistleblowers

Nossaman LLP on

Without a bright line requirement of an SEC contact to trigger whistleblower status, employers may not learn until after termination that an employee claims to be a whistleblower. Employees often raise internal questions,...more

Orrick - Employment Law and Litigation

Circuit Split on Whistleblower Protections Widens: Ninth Circuit Follows Second Circuit and Splits with Fifth Circuit in Holding...

On March 8, 2017, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in Somers v. Digital Realty Trust Inc. that further widened a circuit split on the issue of whether the anti-retaliation provisions in the Dodd-Frank...more

BakerHostetler

Ninth Circuit Widens the Circuit Split on Whether Dodd-Frank Protects Internal Whistleblowers

BakerHostetler on

Last week, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Somers v. Digital Realty Trust, Inc., No. 15-17352 (9th Cir. March 8, 2017), in which it held that the anti-retaliation protections of the...more

K&L Gates LLP

Lessons from the SEC’s Whistleblower Anti-Retaliation Cases

K&L Gates LLP on

Originally published in NSCP Currents - February 2017. While announcements of large cash awards grab most of the spotlight for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or the Commission) whistleblower program, SEC...more

Akerman LLP - HR Defense

Employers Beware: SEC Continues Offensive on Employment Agreements That Inhibit Whistleblowers

Akerman LLP - HR Defense on

Risk Alert (literally)! Standard provisions in employment agreements, severance agreements and policies may run afoul of the SEC’s whistleblower regulations. In the wake of several highly publicized enforcement actions by the...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

WilmerHale

New SEC Settlements Show Continued Focus on Whistleblower Protection and Severance Agreements

WilmerHale on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to pursue enforcement actions against companies for whistleblower-related violations. The latest in a recent string of settled orders, which include the SEC's first case...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

A Review of Recent Whistleblower Developments

Foley & Lardner LLP on

SEC Brings First Stand-Alone Whistleblower Retaliation Enforcement Action - On September 29, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought its first stand-alone whistleblower retaliation case under...more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

SEC Continues Crackdown on Severance Agreements

Why it matters - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continued its efforts against anti-whistleblowing provisions in severance agreements, fining one employer $265,000 for the use of an allegedly illegal clause....more

Polsinelli

SEC Takes Aim at Anti-Whistleblower Employment Agreements

Polsinelli on

On August 15, 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued its second fine in six days to a health insurer for allegedly creating severance agreements that illegally restrict former employees from collecting...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....more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

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

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

Cooley LLP

Blog: SEC Whistleblower Office charges that prospective waiver of whistleblower award in severance agreements violated securities...

Cooley LLP on

In a new whistleblower protection case, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower settled charges against BlueLinx Holdings, Inc. that the company’s severance agreements violated the securities laws. The agreements included...more

WilmerHale

Second Circuit Allows Whistleblower Retaliation Protection Without Reporting to SEC

WilmerHale on

September 10, 2015, in a 2-1 decision in Berman v. Neo@Ogilvy LLC, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that whistleblowers who report securities law violations internally but not to the US Securities and...more

Cooley LLP

Second Circuit Defers To SEC Interpretation Of “Whistleblower” For Purposes Of Retaliation Suit Under Dodd-Frank

Cooley LLP on

In Berman v. Neo@Ogilvy LLC, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit reversed and remanded a decision of the SDNY, which had dismissed a claim for retaliation by a former employee on the basis that Dodd-Frank’s...more

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