Dodd-Frank’s Shifting Definition of “Whistleblower”
In yesterday’s post, we promised to talk more about the potential conflict that defendants have identified in the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblowing provision, Section 922.
As we’ve previously discussed, Section 922 changed whistleblower law in two important ways. First, it created a bounty program, under which qualified whistleblowers can receive payments from the SEC for submitting information about violations of the securities laws. In the first fourteen months of the program, the SEC has handed out the grand total of one award.
Second, Dodd-Frank enhanced the legal remedies for whistleblowers who are victims of retaliation, expanding the scope of prior protections found in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and creating new ones.
Employers, however, have identified a tension in Section 922 that they are seeking to use to defeat whistleblower retaliation claims.