ARNOLD F. SOCK, Attorney At Law, Opines On: Trust is the Key To Keeping Complaints of Whistleblowers In-House to Avoid Investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Companies that want to avoid U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations by keeping whistleblower complaints in-house need to have created a deep enough trust level with employees so that they believe their complaints will be heard and taken seriously and especially that they won’t face retaliation. This is the veiw of legal experts knowledgeable of such matters say.
In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Digital Realty Trust Inc. v. Paul Somers that narrowed protections for whistleblowers who don’t report first to the U.S. Securities and Exchang Commission ("SEC") as well as some sizable SEC whistleblower awards, the incentives for doing in-house reporting have diminished
As a loyal employee, one should report a problem in-house first, but with self-interest, the legal status of doing that (based on Digital Realty), and the potential large cash payouts, it might be a hard descision. Opinion by ARNOLD F. SOCK, Attorney at Law