The court of appeals denied a petition for review of an order of the Department of Labor. The court held that a fired employee’s claim under the whistleblower-protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act accrued when she learned of the actual injury.
Carole Coppinger-Martin worked for Nordstrom, Inc., as an information systems technician. Coppinger-Martin reported to Dan Little, her immediate supervisor, that security vulnerabilities in those systems apparently exposed Nordstrom to potential Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) violations. Shortly later, Coppinger-Martin received an unfavorable work-performance evaluation, although previously she had received favorable reviews. Within months, Little informed Coppinger-Martin that Nordstrom was eliminating her job duties and that there were no other opportunities for her in the company.
