Nicole A. Baker is a Partner in the Washington, D.C. office of K&L Gates LLP, focusing on government enforcement and litigation practice. This post is based on a K&L gates publication authored by Ms. Baker and Meghan E. Flinn.
On November 10, 2015, the employer in a high-profile whistleblower-retaliation case [1] advised the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that it “will not be pursuing a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States” with respect to the appellate court’s recent pro-whistleblower decision concerning the scope of the anti-retaliation provisions contained in Section 21F of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank” or the “Act”). [2] In so doing, the employer re-invigorated the debate over whether Dodd-Frank’s anti-retaliation protections cover individuals who report to their employers, as opposed to contacting the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).