Whistleblower Law Blog
SEC Whistleblower Program Makes Its Bones With $14 Million Award
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awarded an unnamed tipster more than $14 million, obliterating all doubt about the resolve of the agency’s whistleblower program.
The SEC didn’t identify the underlying enforcement action in either its press release or a related order, but the award’s enormous size indicates that the U.S. government may reap as much as $140 million in penalties as a result of the whistleblower’s information.
Fourth Circuit: Facebook “Like” Is Protected Speech in Retaliation Case
Clicking “Like” on Facebook can be a protected activity in a workplace retaliation case, a federal appeals court said, confirming that employers must treat workers’ online behavior with the same respect as its offline equivalent.
Maryland’s High Court Finalizes Verdict In “Cat’s Paw” Case
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONCERNS A CLIENT OF THE EMPLOYMENT LAW GROUP® LAW FIRM. THE RESULTS OF ALL CASES DEPEND ON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH CASE. PAST SUCCESSES DO NOT PREDICT OR GUARANTEE FUTURE SUCCESSES.
Maryland’s highest court finalized the reinstatement of a jury’s $650,000 award to Donna Jackson for her former employer’s retaliation after she reported a subordinate’s gender discrimination complaint.
By declining to review a lower court decision, the Maryland Court of Appeals also solidified the state’s adoption of “cat’s paw” liability, under which an employer may be held liable for retaliation against an employee even if the actual decision-maker was unaware of a retaliatory motive.
Ms. Jackson was represented by The Employment Law Group® law firm.
ARB: Whistleblower Must Be Rehired — Even If Job No Longer Exists
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) ordered the Mayo Clinic to rehire a mail truck driver it had removed for whistleblowing, despite the medical group’s protest that his job no longer exists — and that giving him a different job would require a promotion.
ARB: Whistleblower Can Get Back Pay Even for Time in College
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) ruled that a whistleblower who was illegally forced out of his truck-driving job could claim back pay even for time he spent as a full-time college student.
Judge: Whistleblower’s Removal of Internal Documents Was Protected Under SOX
An administrative law judge at the U.S. Department of Labor ruled that a whistleblower’s duplication and removal of confidential information from his employer was a protected activity under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) — and that it was neither unlawful nor a valid reason for firing, as his employer had claimed.
Sides Warm Up For SOX Case at the Supreme Court
Arguments are shaping up for the U.S. Supreme Court’s hearing of its first whistleblower case brought under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX): This week, employee advocates filed an amicus curiae brief for the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and the Government Accountability Project (GAP).
The brief was drafted, in part, by The Employment Law Group, P.C.
A Day to Honor Whistleblowers?
It was National Whistleblower Appreciation Day this week. How did you celebrate?
Tax Court Sheds Light on Whistleblower’s Denied Award
What can whistleblowers do when the IRS Whistleblower Office denies them an award for helping the government to recover money from a suspected tax cheat?
They can do what Albert G. Hill, III, did — challenge the denial in tax court.
But such challenges are difficult without access to information that the IRS used to deny the award in its often-opaque decision process. In Mr. Hill’s case, the IRS took a common — yet extreme — position on taxpayer confidentiality, refusing to allow Mr. Hill to review documents from the administrative file of the taxpayer he had targeted.
This week the U.S. Tax Court ordered the IRS to hand over the documents under strict conditions — and, in doing so, provided a sensible model for how such appeals should be handled.
Fifth Circuit Narrows Definition of “Whistleblower” Under Dodd-Frank
By holding the Dodd-Frank Act to a literal reading of its language — and rejecting any consideration of the statute’s goals — a federal appeals court has set up a battle over who may claim protection as a corporate “whistleblower” under the law.
“We start and end our analysis with the text of the relevant statute,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in Asadi v. G.E. Energy (USA) L.L.C. — and indeed, the court parsed Dodd-Frank with the cold eye of a professional copy editor, concluding that the law protects employees against retaliation only if they have reported corporate wrongdoing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) via prescribed channels.
The Employment Law Group® law firm produces this blog to provide general news and information about the field of whistleblower law. The blog does not contain any legal advice upon which you should rely or act. Please read our disclaimer.
Editor-in-Chief
R. Scott Oswald
Contributing Editor
Laurence Hooper
Popular Topics
- Administrative Review Board (ARB)
- Dodd-Frank Act
- False Claims Act (FCA)
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
- Medicare Fraud
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
- Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
- Securities Fraud
- Tax Fraud
- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
- Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA)
