The U.S. Department of Labor assembled a digest of whistleblower law under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
On July 30, 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, P.L. 107-204 was signed into law by President Bush. Section 806 of the Act, to be codified at 18 U.S.C. § 1514A, is a whistleblower provision that provides protection for employees of publicly traded companies who provide “information, cause information to be provided, or otherwise assist in an investigation regarding any conduct which the employee reasonably believes constitutes a violation of section 1341, 1343, 1344, or 1348, any rule or regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or any provision of Federal law relating to fraud against shareholders….” Complaints under this provision are filed with the Secretary of Labor, who is to investigate and adjudicate the matter under the rules and procedures found in the statutory AIR21 whistleblower provision. The Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower procedure is somewhat different than AIR21 and all other whistleblower cases administered by the DOL in that if the Secretary has not issued a final decision within 180 days of the filing of the complaint, and there is no showing that such delay is due to the bad faith of the claimant, the claimant may bring an action at law or equity for de novo review in the appropriate district court of the United States.
