Blog Post

Aug 19, 2016

SEC Targets Employment Agreements Requiring Waiver of Whistleblower Awards

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The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower continues to examine employee severance, settlement and confidentiality agreements for language that might chill reporting of securities violations to the SEC and other regulators. The SEC announced on August 10, 2016 that BlueLinx Holdings, a building products distributor, will pay $265,000 to settle charges that its severance agreement violates Rule 21F-17 by requiring departing employees to forego whistleblower bounty awards and using confidentiality language that restricts reporting of possible securities law violations. The Order is available here.