The Securities and Exchange Commission has offered its opinion in a whistleblower case pending in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals regarding the interpretation of the Dodd-Frank Act’s anti-retaliation provision, Leo Moniz, Brooke Arena and Jill Rosenberg of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe report.
The issue is whether Dodd-Frank’s definition of a whistleblower conflicts with its anti-retaliation provision. According to Dodd-Frank, a “whistleblower” is someone who provides information to the SEC regarding a securities law violation. However, its anti-retaliation provision prohibits retaliation against whistleblowers who make any disclosures protected under provisions of several federal securities laws, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. These laws do not require the whistleblower to report their information to the SEC in order to be protected.
