News & Analysis as of

Whistleblower Protection Policies Enforcement Actions Employment Contract

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Whistleblower Language in Separation Agreements Results in Large Settlements with SEC

On September 9, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settlements with seven public companies relating to their use of separation agreements that the SEC says violate whistleblower protection rules by...more

Fenwick & West LLP

SEC Settles Seven Whistleblower Protection Actions

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On September 9, the SEC settled charges against seven public companies for violations of the whistleblower protection rule. According to the SEC’s orders, among other things, these companies violated Rule 21F-17(a) by...more

WilmerHale

SEC Continues Scrutiny of Provisions That Might Impede Whistleblowers

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On September 9, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced settled charges against seven public companies for violations of certain whistleblower protections provided by Rule 21F-17 under the Securities...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Companies Subject to U.S. Jurisdiction Should not Restrict Personnel from Being SEC Whistleblowers, or Receiving SEC Whistleblower...

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SEC rules prohibit taking “any action” to impede an individual from communicating directly with the SEC about a possible securities law violation, including by enforcing, or threatening to enforce, a confidentiality...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Are Whistleblower Protection Violations the New SEC Sweep?

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to investigate companies for including language in their employment and separation agreements or retail client settlement agreements that potentially discourages...more

Perkins Coie

Whistleblower Protection Remains SEC Priority

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Last week, the SEC announced settled charges against seven public companies for use of agreements that the SEC alleges have provisions that violate the whistleblower protection rule. Coincidentally, I recently recorded a...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

SEC Announces Settlements with Seven Public Companies for Violations of Exchange Act Whistleblower Protections in Employee and...

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The SEC has begun to bring enforcement actions against companies whose employment and client agreements could appear to infringe on the right to report cases in violation of Section 21f-17(a) of the Exchange Act. On September...more

BCLP

SEC Again Cracks Down on Companies That Restrict Whistleblowers

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As discussed in our December 15, 2023 client alert, the SEC has waged an aggressive effort to enforce alleged violations of the whistleblower protection rule.  On September 9, 2024, the SEC announced settled charges resulting...more

Jenner & Block

Client Alert: Key Takeaways from the SEC’s Latest Enforcement Sweep Regarding Violations of the Whistleblower Protections Rule

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Earlier this week, the SEC announced an enforcement sweep charging seven public companies with violating the whistleblower protections rule in various employment-related agreements. These charges reflect the SEC’s continuing...more

Perkins Coie

February Tip of the Month: SEC Targets Whistleblower Restrictions in Employment-Related Agreements

Perkins Coie on

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has signaled that it will take aggressive action against employers who, by way of employment-related agreements, restrict, prohibit, or otherwise discourage employees from...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

SEC Takes on Nondisclosure Agreements to Protect Whistleblower Program; Fines Firm $10 Million

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent years has taken an aggressive stance against employers over employment agreements that the agency believes impede its whistleblower program—as highlighted by a $10...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

SEC Continues to Police Confidentiality Provisions for Theoretical Whistleblower Suppression

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) levied an $18 million fine against J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC (“JPMS”) for allegedly including overbroad release provisions in settlement agreements. This marks the continuation...more

BakerHostetler

Employers Beware: Broad Confidentiality and Severance Clauses May Violate Whistleblower Protection Laws

BakerHostetler on

Employers should check their confidentiality and severance agreements for a common oversight that, for some, is becoming a costly error. Recent enforcement activity by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Rule...more

Thomas Fox - Compliance Evangelist

Pre-Taliation Continues to Rear It’s Ugly Head

DE Shaw, a prominent financial services firm, recently settled a retaliation case with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a staggering $10 million. It was settled via an Administrative Order. This settlement...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

Recent Whistleblower Enforcement Actions Highlight SEC Focus On Employee Agreements

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In September, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) announced the settlement of three enforcement actions for violations of SEC whistleblower protection laws. In the actions, the SEC asserted that the...more

Holland & Knight LLP

SEC Settlements Over Whistleblower Protections Pile Up

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As the SEC closed its fiscal year, it filed three separate enforcement actions against companies for purported violations of Rule 21F-17 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, which prohibits persons from impeding...more

Goodwin

Employers Are Strongly Encouraged to Revisit Whistleblower Protection Language in Agreements and Policies in Light of Recent Legal...

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On Friday, September 29, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) issued an order that censured D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P., a registered investment advisor in New York, and assessed a civil penalty of $10,000,000...more

Snell & Wilmer

The SEC Expands Enforcement Program Based Upon Standard Corporate Separation Agreements

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We have alerted you on two prior occasions regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) imposing substantial fines and other penalties based solely on “boilerplate” language commonly found in corporate severance...more

NAVEX

Modern Whistleblower Retaliation Risk Require a Modern Framework

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If compliance officers ever needed one more sign about the importance of anti-retaliation programs, it arrived on September 29, 2016. On that day, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC ) fined a company that makes...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

SEC Continues Crackdown on Employer Whistleblower Restrictions

Takeaways: - SEC is targeting contract terms that appear to restrict contact with the SEC or require employee whistleblowers to waive monetary recoveries. - Express disclosure of these rights in severance...more

NAVEX

The Difference Between Being Right and Doing Right

NAVEX on

Not long ago I wrote about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent enforcement actions against companies that include pretaliation clauses in their employment contracts. I posted the article online, and one compliance...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

SEC Blows the Whistle on Confidentiality Agreements

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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

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

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