For another perspective on the Dodd Frank Act’s protection for whistleblowers, I asked Sam Antar what he thought, as we have previously spoken about corporate retaliation against critics.
According Sam, "whistleblowers are legally protected but, in substance, big companies can still retaliate against them. Many whistleblowers will not have the financial resources to protect themselves against deep-pocketed large corporations which have the means to make their lives miserable by filing frivolous lawsuits and using other tactics. It’s a very nasty game that some of these companies play. Other tactics include firing the whistleblowers, pretexting and stalking the whistleblowers, including their family members."
Sam has personally experienced this sort of behavior and can tell a number of corporate harassment horror stories. And, unfortunately, defending against retaliation can be very expensive. Thus, there’s a tension between these groups – the corporations and the whistleblowers – and the law tries to even the playing field. – Ilene
SEC Seeking Snitches: Reasonable Suspicion of Potential Violation Not Required.
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
Do you realize what Dodd-Frank did? Snitch on whomever you want for securities violations or any other manner of financial misdoing (as if the SEC was so concerned with that before) and receive full protection against retaliation. Isn’t this a wonderful world we live in?
Who is a Whistleblower?
The proposed rules define the term "whistleblower" as a natural person who, alone or jointly with others, provides "original" information to the SEC relating to a potential violation of the securities laws. This is consistent with the broad definition in the Dodd-Frank Act, except that the SEC included the term "potential violation" to reach information beyond actual, proven securities violations at the time the information is submitted. Further, the SEC’s proposed definition will permit a whistleblower to benefit from the anti-retaliation provisions (described below), regardless of whether there is an ultimate adjudication, finding or conclusion that the conduct reported by the whistleblower constituted a violation of the securities laws.
Know what that means? Allegations could have absolutely no merit and these whistleblowers are safely guarded from any sort of payback.
