In Olekanma v. Wolfe, No. CV-DKC-15-0984, 2017 WL 784121 (D. Md. Mar. 1, 2017), Maryland’s federal district court granted a motion to dismiss claims brought under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) and the Dodd-Frank Act...
On February 28, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awarded a whistleblower 20 percent of any sanctions paid in connection with an SEC enforcement action brought as a result of the whistleblower’s tip. ...
Ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a blockbuster False Claims Act decision in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, the Court’s clarified interpretation of the False Claims Act (FCA)...
In an encouraging development for whistleblowers, a prominent federal appellate court recently expanded anti-retaliation protections for workers in the financial industry. In Somers v. Digital Realty Trust, Inc., a...
The text of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”) prohibits sex discrimination in “any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” In many instances, it is clear that a...
Will the SEC’s More Restrictive Policy for Subpoena Approval Create a Bottleneck for Whistleblower Claims?
April 18, 2017
On February 16, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an important policy change that reduces the number of SEC enforcement officials who can issue subpoenas and authorize SEC investigations....
The Administrative Review Board (ARB) of the Department of Labor (DOL) recently ruled that a transportation worker’s general complaint that a vehicle is unsafe will not constitute protected activity under federal law. In...
Under the SEC’s whistleblower program, established in 2011, a whistleblower who reports misconduct to the SEC can receive an award of between 10 percent and 30 percent of the money collected as a result of the SEC’s...
Since 1999, when the Supreme Court first created an affirmative defense for supervisory harassment that required employers to prove that they have effective policies and procedures in place to respond to complaints of...
Congress Aims to Strengthen Federal Employee Whistleblower Protections under New Administration
March 28, 2017
Amid reports that the Trump administration is silencing dissent in the executive branch, it may be surprising to learn that protections for federal whistleblowers could soon be expanding significantly. In November 2016, the...