Whistleblower News

Cybercrime has surged, particularly since the pandemic, targeting the sensitive information of consumers, businesses and governments. The FBI’s 2022 cybercrime report tallied nearly 801,000 complaints, adding up to nearly $10.3 billion in losses. While the number of complaints has held fairly steady since 2020, the breaches have gotten much more lucrative for bad actors: reported losses were $4.2 billion in 2020 and $6.9 billion in 2021. These figures show why companies that aren’t enacting … [Read more...]

The U.S. Supreme Court soon will take up an appeal that will decide a crucial issue for Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblowers.The issue to be decided: How carefully will courts guard whistleblowers against retaliation?The justices take up the question during the upcoming term, which starts in October.The case involves Trevor Murray, who started work for UBS Securities in April 2011, the only research strategist for the company’s commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) arm. Federal … [Read more...]

Whistleblower cases are complex, and they often pit laypeople — an everyday worker just trying to do the right thing — against well-heeled, powerful, experienced opponents. Several cases making headlines this year illustrate this scenario:Large railroads, such as Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and others, face questions about their safety procedures following accidents and hundreds of whistleblower complaints during the past five years. A recently unsealed federal appeals court … [Read more...]

A longstanding but rarely tested corner of whistleblower law flew to the forefront this month in the form of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.We get into the specifics below, but here’s the underlying lesson: In today’s legal environment, whistleblowers benefit greatly from retaining a qui tam attorney with a thorough understanding of the law and a solid track record of communicating with the U.S. Department of Justice.Understanding the decision requires a bit of background. We often … [Read more...]

The California Supreme Court this month ruled that employees who report labor law violations to an employer or agency that already knew about the violation is a protected disclosure under California whistleblower protection law.The ruling in a case brought by the state’s Labor Commissioner means that whistleblowers who report “already known” violations are subject to anti-retaliation protection. The state’s Labor Code prohibits employers from retaliating against employees for “disclosing … [Read more...]