Ever been in an earthquake? The ground shifts beneath your wingtips, tassled loafers or — on casual day — boat shoes. As you’re steadying yourself, you have one question — how bad was it? After reading the tremor-causing Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 dealing with corporate governing and accounting reform — a benign enough sounding name, don’t you think? — signed into law on July 30 by President George W. Bush, we have an answer: pretty bad. Here’s the equation: a depressed Dow Jones Index and anemic Nasdaq + political convenience + sloppy legislative drafting = a corporate counsel’s nightmare. And the problems may start in the GC’s office.
A new class of employee-plaintiff is created by the law, and many of them are sitting in offices down the hall. The law prohibits any type of discrimination or adverse employment action against an employee (including in-housers) for blowing the whistle on securities fraud or otherwise assisting in any proceedings dealing with securities fraud. The whistle-blower is protected if he or she blows the whistle to any federal regulatory or law enforcement agencies; any member of Congress or any committee of Congress; or any person in supervisory authority over the employee.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.
For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]
