From 2015 to 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a series of settlements with employers in which the SEC adopted a strict interpretation of the whistleblower protections afforded under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank).1 As discussed in Wilson Sonsini’s September 2016 Client Alert, the SEC imposed monetary sanctions on companies for including confidentiality provisions and other provisions in employment-related agreements that it asserted deterred employees from reporting securities law violations to the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower (and other agencies).
On June 22, 2022, the SEC issued an order In the Matter of The Brink’s Company, confirming its continued aggressive enforcement stance regarding whistleblowing protections. From 2015 to 2019, The Brink’s Company (Brink) required new U.S. employees to execute a confidentiality agreement during the onboarding process. The confidentiality agreement prohibited employees from divulging confidential information to third parties without Brink’s permission, and it defined confidential information to include "financial information … set forth in internal records, files and ledgers or incorporated in profit and loss statements, financial reports and business plans."2 It imposed $75,000 in liquidated damages, together with payment of Brink’s attorney’s fees and costs, on any employee found to have violated the confidentiality agreement. Brink also included...
Manon Jacob and Anuj Chopra From false claims that a historic lunar fly-by was staged in a movie studio to unfounded narratives that footage of the crew was AI-generated, the Artemis II mission ha...