Advisories

Advisory of 5/03/05: U.S. Supreme Court Implies Remedy for Title IX Whistleblower

On March 29, 2005, the Supreme Court protected a male coach of a girls' high school basketball team who alleged that his employment was terminated in retaliation for his complaints that the girls' team was being discriminated against in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. In Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education, No. 02-1672, a majority of five Justices held that "[r]etaliation against a person because that person has complained of sex discrimination is another form of intentional sex discrimination encompassed by Title IX's private cause of action." The Supreme Court further stated that "[r]eporting incidents of discrimination is integral to Title IX enforcement and would be discouraged if retaliation against those who report went unpunished. Indeed, if retaliation were not prohibited, Title IX's enforcement scheme would unravel."

Advisory of 2/28/05: CPAs Protected by Sarbanes-Oxley

Sarbanes-Oxley protects both CPAs working inside and outside publicly traded companies. If you think of Enron and Andersen, Congress was concerned that whistleblowers did not stop the frauds not only inside Enron, but also that potential outside whistleblowers at Andersen did not prevent the frauds. As a result, Sarbanes-Oxley protects not only CPAs inside publicly traded companies, but also CPAs at privately held accounting firms.

There is a common misconception that Sarbanes-Oxley protects only employees of publicly traded companies. This is not the case, in that CPA firms or other contractors of publicly traded companies also are legally protected for whistleblowing. Moreover, Sarbanes-Oxley makes it a crime in some circumstances to retaliate against whistleblowers, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. This criminal provision protects employees at both publicly traded and privately held companies.

Advisory of 2/21/05: “Undersight” strengthens corporate “Oversight”

"Undersight" is a new term coined by Mr.Westman, referring to corporate insiders looking up from within their companies rather than outsiders looking down into not so transparent corporate operations. It's used to describe how Sarbanes-Oxley supplements the pre-existing "oversight" mechanisms provided by the SEC, accounting and law firms, and Boards of Directors.