SOX and suits – Whistleblower provisions at issue in retaliatory termination case

Description

Abstract: Shortly after a husband and wife, both lawyers for the same firm, pointed out that information about a competitor’s patent had not been revealed in the company’s recent merger — thereby possibly causing the company to be overvalued — they found themselves out of a job. They filed a lawsuit claiming retaliatory termination and citing the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). This article discusses the four-prong test that they successfully met to make their case. A sidebar discusses a different case that showed how employers can raise valid defenses to SOX whistleblower retaliation claims.