In the case Lindsey Gulden and Damian Burch v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is set to decide whether or not a district court can enforce Department of Labor orders calling for the preliminary reinstatement of whistleblowers under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). According to National Whistleblower Center (NWC), who filed an amicus curiae brief in the case, the court’s decision will be highly consequential as preliminary reinstatement is an essential remedy for corporate whistleblowers facing retaliation.
The case stems from the whistleblowing of Dr. Lindsey Gulden and Dr. Damian Burch, two scientists who worked at Exxon Mobil. In 2019, the scientists raised concerns to Exxon’s H.R. department about a financial disclosure filed by Exxon which included higher projections for oil output at the company’s drilling sites in Texas and New Mexico. The scientists believed there was no empirical evidence to support this increase and that it was in order to boost Exxon’s public filings. Later that year, Dr. Gulden and Dr. Burch were fired.
In October 2022, following an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) whistleblower program, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it had found that Exxon had fired the scientists in retaliation for the possibility they had blown the whistle to the media, a violation of the SOX. The DOL ordered that Exxon preliminary reinstatement Gulden and Burch while the whistleblower...
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