As we previously reported, on February 13, 2020, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the Department of Labor (DOL) dismissed a former in-house attorney's whistleblower claims because he worked entirely outside of the United States. On December 23, 2022, the D.C. Circuit unanimously affirmed, holding that SOX's anti-retaliation provision does not apply extraterritorially. Garvey Morgan Stanley, No. 21-1182.
In 2006, Complainant began working in Tokyo for a foreign subsidiary of a U.S. company. In 2011, he began working for a different foreign subsidiary of the same U.S. company and relocated to Hong Kong. In February 2016, Complainant claimed that he was constructively discharged after he objected to certain conduct that he believed was in violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other laws.
In August 2016, Garvey filed suit under SOX's anti-retaliation provision (Section 806), and the company moved to dismiss on the grounds that the ARB's decisions in Hu v. PTC, Inc., ARB Case No. 2017-0068 (Sept. 18, 2019) and Perez v. Citigroup, Inc., ARB Case No. 2017-0031 (Sept. 30, 2019) precluded extraterritorial claims under Section 806. The ALJ adopted the Board's analysis in Hu and Perez, holding that "(1) Section 806 lacks extraterritorial reach, and (2) Garvey, like Hu, was a foreign-based worker at a foreign subsidiary employed entirely outside of the United States who could not allege a domestic application of Section 806."
After unsuccessfully...
SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) — A federal judge on Thursday refused to toss all claims against a sugar company accused in a putative class action of advertising its products as eco-friendly while giving t...