Employers have boston #20 mlb jersey a responsibility to their employees to protect them from retaliation, which has resulted in a number of companies going above and beyond the law to develop their own programs to protect whistleblowers. In a previous post, "Vicki Sweeney of KPMG Presents Best Practices in Preventing and Monitoring Workplace Retaliation," I discussed the retaliation monitoring program in place at KPMG, to further assist in protecting whistleblowers at KPMG. This post will focus on the expansion of the?whistleblower protections under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?and financial incentives for?whistleblowers, which have both been included in the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation.
Employers must be prepared to follow new legislation?that has been enacted?to increase protections for whistleblowers. The recent passing of the Dodd-Frank Act continues to follow the trend towards putting an end to whistleblower retaliation- as well as rewarding whistleblowers for bringing forward evidence of unethical or criminal acts taking place within an organization.?Whistleblowers can become victims of retaliation whether it comes from managers or fellow employees.
Enhanced Protections Under the Dodd-Frank Act
The Dodd-Frank Act includes a major expansion of the whistleblower protections outlined in the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and Consumer Protection Acts.?As outlined in Section 922 of the Act, here are some?of the protections employers will need to draw attention to include:
Prohibiting Retaliation: Employers cannot demote, discharge, suspend, threaten, harass or discriminate against whistleblowers in any way for disclosing information protected under SOX and the Securities Exchange Act.
Bringing? a Complaint Forward: Originally, whistleblowers only had 90 days to bring a claim forward. Now, that time span has been doubled,?giving whistleblowers?180 days from the point of initial discovery, to make a claim.
Expansion of "Covered" Groups: Employees from publicly traded companies are now granted whistleblower protections under the Dodd-Frank Act.
Establishment of the SEC Whistleblower Office: Under section 924 of the act, the SEC has until April 2011 to launch boston #20 mlb jersey a whistleblower office. The whistleblower office will administer and enforce the amended provisions of the Securities Exchange Act to comply with the Dodd-Frank Bill. The Bill also states that the SEC whistleblower office must report annually to?the "Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives on its activities, whistleblower complaints, and the response of the Commission to such complaints."
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