Narrow Whistleblower Protection May Have Broad Impact

The U.S. Supreme Court, on February 21, 2018, ruled unanimously that protections afforded to whistleblowers under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) apply only to people who report potential wrongdoing directly to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This article explains why it is more important than ever for compliance personnel, internal auditors and boards of directors to consider their companies’ corporate culture and ethics programs so that employees may raise concerns without fear of retaliation and management reacts more quickly to address reported matters before regulators are notified of problematic activity.