In 2002, Time magazine named three "Persons of the Year": Sherron Watkins of Enron, Coleen Rowley of the FBI, and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom. Their common bond? Each tried to identify and correct the misconduct and fraudulent activity of their employers. Thus, Time called 2002 "The Year of the Whistleblowers" and helped advance the public perception of the inside informant as someone who protects the interests of employees, investors, and other stakeholders.
In Whistleblower Law, D.C. lawyers Stephen Kohn, Michael Kohn, and David Colapinto examine the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which in part spells out protections for employees who point out corporate misdeeds. One of the goals of this legislation, the authors claim, was to break "the corporate code of silence" that often cloaks corporate shenanigans.
SOX goes beyond simple protections for whistleblowers to incorporate the following four basic provisions: a prohibition against employment discrimination, criminal penalties for those who discriminate against whistleblowers, corporate responsibility to receive whistleblower complaints, and the responsibility of attorneys to report wrongdoing.
The target audience for this book, in addition to employees, includes corporate HR professionals and trainers, legal eagles, and managers.—Mallory Stark
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 - Legislative History of SOX Whistleblower Protection
Chapter 2 - SOX Complaints and Investigations
Chapter 3 - SOX Administrative Claims: Discovery and Hearings
Chapter 4 - SOX Appeals
Chapter 5 - Federal Court Actions
Chapter 6 - Proof of Discrimination: The Contributing Factor Test
Chapter 7 - Employers and Employees under the SOX
Chapter 8 - Protected Activity and the SOX Reasonable Belief Standard
Chapter 9 - Adverse Action
Chapter 10 - Damages
Chapter 11 - Attorney Fees and Costs
Chapter 12 - Settlement of SOX Complaints
Chapter 13 - Preemption and Arbitration
Chapter 14 - Banking Whistleblower Protections
Chapter 15 - Attorneys as Whistleblowers
Chapter 16 - Audit Committees and Corporate Employee Concerns Programs
Chapter 17 - Criminal Sanctions for Retaliation