The Supreme Court Holds That Employees Who Work For Contractors of Public Companies are Protected From Retaliation Under SOX for Whistleblowing
On March 4, 2014, in Lawson v. FMR LLC, the Supreme Court clarified the reach of whistleblower protection under the Sarbanes Oxley Act, concluding in a 6-3 opinion that employees of a public company’s private contractors and subcontractors are covered by the federal law. The Court reversed and remanded the First Circuit’s holding, and based its decision on the statutory text, the events prompting Congress to adopt SOX, and earlier legislation Congress drew upon. Significantly, the decision acknowledged that SOX provides protection beyond that offered by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, offering protection to internal whistleblowers.