On May 11, 2017, the Northern District of New York applied the Second Circuit’s standard for evaluating a Dodd-Frank retaliation claim in response to a motion to dismiss under F.R.C.P. Rule 12(b)(6). The court denied the employer’s motion to dismiss unlawful retaliation claims brought by a former employee under Dodd-Frank, finding that the whistleblower had sufficiently alleged a reasonable belief of plausible securities law violations in his complaint. McManus v. Tetra Tech Construction, Inc., et al., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71838 (N.D.N.Y. May 11, 2017).
SEC Issues Another Whistleblower Bounty Award
On May 2, 2017, the Securities and Exchanges Commission issued a Dodd-Frank whistleblower award of more than $500,000 to an unidentified company employee. According to the SEC, the individual reported information that prompted an SEC investigation and resulted enforcement action by the agency. Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower stated that the employee reported “hard-to-detect violations of the securities law.”
NY Law Journal Report: Trump And The Future Of The SEC Whistleblower Program
As reported by Ryan Barber of the National Law Journal, the Trump administration could change the trajectory of the SEC whistleblower office, potentially halting the SEC’s recent strict scrutiny of potential impediments for whistleblowers.