Whistleblower Protection if you work a for Publicly Traded Company
If you work for a publicly traded company, you are protected under the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) from termination, discrimination and retaliation if you make an internal complaint or complaint to the Security and Exchange Commission. In many instance, you don’t need to prove an actual violation of the fraud complaint. Your whistle blowing activity is judge based on a standard of objective reasonableness.
What whistleblower activities are protected
You are protected fro m retaliation for reporting alleged mail, wire, bank, or securities fraud; violation(s) of SEC rules and regulat ions; or violation(s) of Federal law relating to frau d against shareholders. If your employer takes retaliatory actions against you because of your whistleblower activities, you can file a complaint with OSHA. In other words, the court looks at whether the allegations support the reasonable inference that a reasonable person in your position would view such facts as the basis for a whistleblower complaint.
Deadline for filing a SOX whistleblower complaint
If you have been retaliated or discriminated against for whistleblowing, you must file your SOX complaint with OSHA within 180 days after the retaliatory event or the date you became awere of the violation. You should hire a whistleblower lawyer to help you with drafting the complaint since it may be reviewed by a Federal Judge in the future.
How much detail should a SOX complaint be?
A SOX complaint does not need to contain every single detail or element of the future lawsuit but it should contain some of the following: 1) some facts about the protected activity; 2) some facts about the adverse action; 3) an assertion of causation, and 4) a description of the relief or damages sought .
Can you get a reward for whistleblowing?
In some cases whistleblowers are eligible for a large monetary award for their SOX complaint. you are eligible for There is a reward program for SEC complaints. There is a strong monetary incentive to report wrongdoing to the SEC. The SEC has jurisdiction over a large range of industries and entities (private and public).
