One of the signature features of the Dodd-Frank Act was its creation of an SEC Whistleblower program. Under the program, the SEC can award whistleblowers a bounty of between ten percent and thirty percent of any recoveries the SEC makes in excess of $1 million as result of the information whistleblower provided. The program went into effect in 2011, and the agency immediately began receiving a huge volume of whistleblower reports. Over time the agency has made a number of awards, including the September 2014 award of $30 million, which is still the largest award under the whistleblower program.
While the program has been in operation now for several years, it recently kicked into high gear and the program has passed a number of important milestones. The trend lines suggest that the SEC whistleblower program is going to be an increasingly important part of the corporate liability landscape, and for that reason there are a number of important things to keep in mind.
Continue Reading Six Things to Know Now About the SEC Whistleblower Program
The SEC has long made it clear that it intends to protect whistleblowers and to suppress activities it believes will have the effect of discouraging whistleblower activity. The agency recently launched enforcement actions against companies that had incorporated various waivers in employee severance agreements that discouraged employees from reporting possible securities law violations to the SEC. The agency’s actions shows that the agency is prepared to actively target corporate actions the agency believe may suppress the whistleblowing process.
One of the Dodd-Frank Act’s signature features was its creation of potentially massive bounties for whistleblowers that reported financial fraud to the SEC. During the time that the Dodd-Frank whistleblower program has been in place, the agency has made 
It will not come as news to anyone that corporate directors face the possibility of direct personal liability for their actions or omissions in the capacities as directors. However, the scope of these individuals’ potential liability exposures can and does change. As a result of recent legal developments, at least two new areas of potential liability exposure for corporate directors have emerged. As discussed below, a recent federal district court decision suggests that directors can be held personally liable under both the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act for whistleblower retaliation, and a recent California legislative enactment provides that corporate directors can be held personally liable for violations of the state’s wage and hour laws.
The number of whistleblower reports to the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower under the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions continues to increase, according to the agency’s latest annual report. The November 16, 2015 report, which is entitled “The 2015 Annual Report to Congress: Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program,” and which can be found 
While the SEC’s Dodd-Frank whistleblower program has drawn significant attention, the fact is that the program has gotten off to a slow start. As of the end of the last fiscal year, the SEC had during the program’s history received a total of 10,193 whistleblower reports, but had made only 14 whistleblower awards. (Indeed, the agency had rejected more award requests – 19 – than awards given.) While the agency’s deliberate pace in making awards seems unchanged, the agency continues to make substantial awards and the aggregate value of the awards is gradually becoming quite considerable.
