Whistleblower Law Blog

TweetIn Brown v. Lockheed Martin Corp., the Administrative Review Board (ARB) affirmed the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who ordered Andrea Brown reinstated to her previous position at DOD contractor Lockheed Martin, awarded her $75,000 in damages, and requested she submit an application for attorney fees and costs.  Beginning in June 2000, Brown [...]

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TweetA federal jury awarded Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblowers Shawn and Lena Van Asdale $2.2 million in a lawsuit they filed against their former employer International Game Technology (“IGT”).   IGT is a publicly-traded company specializing in computerized gaming and slot machines.  IGT’s management hired the Van Asdales in 2001 as in-house intellectual property attorneys, quickly promoting Shawn to [...]

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TweetJudge Christopher F. Droney of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut held that Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) whistleblower Mary Barker need only have “reasonably believed” her employer’s violations of securities law were material to plead a SOX whistleblower claim.  Barker alleges that UBS retaliated against her following her reporting to compliance officers that UBS [...]

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TweetJudge Robert Sweet of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York stated in the case of Sharkey v. J.P. Morgan Chase that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) protects whistleblowers who report fraudulent activity by their employer or by third parties such as clients and business partners: The legislative history concerning the [...]

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TweetOn August 13, 2010, The Employment Law Group® filed an amicus curiae brief in Johnson v. Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., on behalf of the Government Accountability Project, National Employment Lawyers Association, and National Whistleblowers Center arguing that Section 929A of the Dodd-Frank Act clarifies and confirms existing law on the scope of coverage under SOX, [...]

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TweetThe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an amicus curiae brief asserting that Congress intended Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) to protect whistleblowers working for consolidated subsidiaries of publicly-traded companies.  The SEC states: The [SEC] believes that the whistleblower protections of Section 806 apply not only to employees of parent companies that file [...]

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TweetThe Solicitor of Labor filed an amicus curiae brief arguing that in enacting Section 806 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Congress intended to protect whistleblowers working for the consolidated subsidiaries of publicly-traded companies.  In Klopfenstein v. PCC Flow Technologies Holdings, Inc., the ARB applied an “agency test” in which the general common law of agency is employed [...]

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TweetOn July 13, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois denied a motion for summary judgment in Schlicksup v. Caterpillar, Inc., allowing a Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) whistleblower, Daniel Schlicksup, to proceed to trial. Schlicksup, a tax manager with twenty years of experience, alleges that he was involuntarily reassigned by his employer Caterpillar [...]

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TweetPrincipal Jason Zuckerman of The Employment Law Group® law firm is quoted in an article in BNA’s Daily Labor Report titled “Attorneys Agree Financial Overhaul Bill Has Vigorous Whistleblower Protections” about the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  The Dodd-Frank Act which we blogged about here, contains [...]

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TweetThe Employment Law Group® Law Firm principals Scott Oswald and Jason Zuckerman published an article in Law360 titled “Whistleblower Provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.”  The article discusses the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  The article is available here. For more information about The Employment Law Group® [...]

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TweetThe Employment Law Group® law firm is quoted in the lead story in The National Law Journal titled “Financial Reform Includes New Whistleblower Program.”  The article reports on the whistleblower protection provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which we blogged about here.  The article states in part: However, employment and whistleblower [...]

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TweetRecognizing that robust whistleblower protection is critical to preventing another financial crisis, Congress included in the Dodd-Frank financial services reform bill (H.R. 4173) numerous provisions designed to encourage whistleblowing and to provide robust protection from retaliation.  These provisions create monetary awards for whistleblowers who provide original information to the SEC or CFTC, strengthen the whistleblower [...]

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TweetOn June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court issued an opinion upholding the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.  The Court ruled that in order to maintain a constitutional separation of powers, Securities and Exchange Commission must be allowed remove members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board at will.  [...]

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TweetOn May 21, 2010, Jason Zuckerman, a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm, will speak on whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act at a CLE hosted through www.lawseminars.com.  The program will discuss recent developments concerning SOX, including new and pending corporate whistleblower protection legislation. For more information about upcoming speaking engagements featuring the [...]

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TweetOn March 30, 2010, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut held that when a Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower amends his complaint, he need not wait an additional 180 days at OSHA before removing his claim to federal court.  In 2006, Richard Trusz, the managing director of valuations at UBS Realty, butted heads with management [...]

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TweetOn April 1, 2010, Administrative Law Judge Jeffrey Tureck found that BB&T violated the whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and ordered the bank to reinstate Amy Stroupe, awarding her approximately three years of back pay.  Stroupe, a corporate fraud investigator, uncovered a $100 million Ponzi scheme funded in part with $20 million of fraudulent [...]

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TweetOn March 17, 2010, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered Tennessee Commerce Bank to reinstate a former chief financial officer and pay more than $1 million for violations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.  Former CFO George Fort filed a complaint with OSHA on April 4, 2008 alleging that the bank terminated him in retaliation for [...]

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TweetOn March 10, 2010, Judge Rae issued an order clarifying the right of SOX plaintiffs to remove their claims federal court.  In Miller v. Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc., the complainant changed counsel three times and failed to respond to discovery requests.  Miller then moved to remove her claim to federal court on the basis [...]

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TweetOn March 3, 210, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that it ordered e-Smart Technologies, Inc. to reinstate a whistleblower and awarded the plaintiff over $600,000 in back pay and compensatory damages.  The whistleblower was discharged after raising concerns about misinformation in a draft public filing.  Both the employee and e-Smart have 30 days [...]

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TweetJason Zuckerman, a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm, is quoted in a Law360 article titled “Solis’ Whistleblower-Friendly Board May Reshape SOX.”  The article discusses the recent appointment of Paul Igasaki as ARB chair and Cooper Brown as vice chair and predicts that the ARB’s interpretation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will become more [...]

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TweetThe Employment Law Group® law firm is a contributing author of the 2010 annual update on the whistleblower retaliation provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a copy of which is available here.  This annual update is a project of the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law Committee on Federal Labor Standards Legislation Subcommittee on the [...]

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TweetAdam Augustine Carter, a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm, was quoted in a January 4, 2010 article published by Law360 about TELG’s success in a SOX case before the Fourth Circuit.  The article discusses the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Stone v. Instrumentation Laboratory Company which we blogged about here.  Stone was a [...]

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TweetOn December 31, 2009, in a case of first impression, the Fourth Circuit held in Stone v. Instrumentation Laboratory Company that a Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) complainant may seek de novo review in federal court after the complaint has been pending before DOL for over 180 days without a final decision by the Secretary of Labor.  In [...]

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TweetTom Harrington, an associate at The Employment Law Group® law firm, was quoted in a December 3, 2009 article published by The Raleigh News & Observer.  The article, “Tony Rand accused of insider trading,” discusses accusations of insider trading by Paul Feldman, the former President of Law Enforcement Associates.  Mr. Feldman claims he was unlawfully [...]

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TweetToday, Law360 published a column by principals R. Scott Oswald and Jason Zuckerman of The Employment Law Group® law firm on the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Van Asdale v. International Game Technology.  The column discusses how the Van Asdale decision is a substantial victory for SOX whistleblowers in that it resolves ambiguities in favor [...]

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