Whistleblowing on Corporate Fraud Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and State Laws |
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The attorneys at Katz, Marshall & Banks represent employees in the private sector who face retaliation for reporting accounting fraud and other corporate wrongdoing. We have obtained significant outcomes for whistleblowers working in a wide range of industries, from sub-prime lending to pharmaceutical to manufacturing — anywhere companies engage in unlawful practices aimed at misleading investors or government regulators. Our clients have included high-level executives, attorneys, managers and accountants.
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("SOX"), which Congress enacted in the wake of the colossal accounting frauds at Enron and WorldCom, has transformed the legal landscape for employees who work at publicly traded companies. SOX's whistleblower-protection provisions provide a powerful legal mechanism for employees who suffer retaliation for their reporting of accounting fraud, misleading statements to the investing public, and other financial or securities-related misdeeds.
Even though Sarbanes-Oxley is a relatively new law, our attorneys are among the first in the country to have developed valuable expertise in pursuing SOX whistleblower claims before the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and in the courts. Such expertise is especially crucial in the context of a new law whose application involves issues that the courts have not yet addressed. The successful representation of Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblowers also requires the ability to analyze and assert claims within a very short, 90-day deadline for the filing of claims with DOL, which is the federal agency that first hears all SOX whistleblower cases. And both DOL and the federal courts, which can accept jurisdiction after employees have first exhausted the DOL procedures, have very stringent requirements for bringing and proving of SOX whistleblower claims.
Having experienced advocates on your side is often key to achieving a favorable outcome in a SOX whistleblower case -- an outcome that compensates the employee and protects his or her reputation and rights going forward. We stay abreast of developments in Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower law in order to ensure that cases do not get dismissed on technicalities or avoidable procedural hurdles and that claims get settled or adjudicated on their merits.. See Katz, D. & Andronici, J., Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblowers: Experts Only, Please, published in The National Law Journal (February 18, 2008), and other publications listed on KMB Publications page of this website. KMB partner Debra Katz has served as a faculty member of ALI-ABA, the National Employment Lawyers Association, and the American Bar Association on SOX issues. We have also developed specialized knowledge in representing employees of publicly traded companies in internal fact-finding proceedings brought by corporate audit committees, and in the representation of in-house and outside counsel in discharging their "up the ladder" reporting obligations under Sarbanes-Oxley and in pursuing related whistleblower claims. See Adams, R. & Katz, D., "Lawyers Who 'Tell' Risk All," The National Law Journal (March 29, 2004).
For a fuller explanation of an employee's rights and responsibilities when seeking whistleblower protection under SOX, and for an explanation, and for an overview of some of the information an employee needs before blowing the whistle on corporate fraud, see Marshall, D. and Williams, N., Blowing the Whistle on Accounting Fraud: The Sarbanes-Oxley Whistleblower Protections at a Glance, published in CFO Magazine (September 1, 2007).
In addition to claims under Sarbanes-Oxley's whistleblower provisions, employees who blow the whistle on accounting fraud, tax evasion, regulatory violations and other corporate wrongdoing may have claims under whistleblower laws of the various states in which they work or their companies have their headquarters. Some but not all states have laws that prohibit employers from firing employees for refusing to engage in unlawful conduct, or for reporting or opposing such conduct. As in other whistleblower cases, the advice and representation of attorneys with experience in litigating such claims can be critical to the employee's ability to achieve a favorable outcome.
At Katz, Marshall & Banks, our attorneys provide sound advice and representation to employees who blow the whistle on corporate misconduct. Whether an employee is considering the reporting of misconduct or has already faced retaliation from the employer, we pride ourselves on our ability to help the employee achieve a favorable outcome.
