In April, I wrote here about the request of the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) for amicus (friend of the court) briefs on whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) protects employees of subsidiaries. The National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) joined with the National Employment Lawyers Association and the Government Accountability Project to submit an amicus brief as requested by the ARB. That brief is now available here. The brief argues that the language Congress originally used, and the legislative history and context (can you spell Enron), make clear that SOX protects all employees of all subsidiaries of publicly traded companies. I want to thank Michael T. Anderson of Murphy Anderson in Boston for his insights and talent in helping with the writing of this brief and the final edits and production (while I was busy with another matter). I also appreciate the contributions of Ann Lugbill, Rebecca Hamburg, Karen Gray and Jason Zuckerman. As noted in yesterday’s blog entry, Congress has now amended SOX to make explicit what it had always intended. Still, many SOX whistleblowers have cases pending that are affected by the ARB’s determination of this legal issue. Best wishes to Carri Johnson whose SOX case before the ARB will be the test case to resolve this issue.
