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SEC Whistleblower Awards Highlight Pervasive Retaliation When the SEC proposed regulations implementing the Dodd-Frank Act SEC whistleblower reward provisions, many companies and the Chamber of Commerce strenuously urged the SEC to require whistleblowers to report internally prior to making a disclosure to the SEC Office of the Whistleblower. The main justification for this proposal was that companies had established effective internal reporting mechanisms and robust anti-retaliation policies. Proponents of this internal reporting requirement asserted that a program permitting whistleblowers to report directly to the SEC would undermine compliance programs and create a perverse financial incentive for employees who are responsible for identifying and investigating misconduct. Ultimately, the SEC rejected this proposed internal reporting requirement but adopted rules that encourage and incentivize internal reporting. In particular, the SEC whistleblower rules increase the award percentage where a whistleblower “report[s] the violation internally through his or her firm’s internal reporting channels or mechanisms” prior to reporting to the SEC. The largest SEC whistleblower awards to date are $50 million, $39 million, and $37 million. For more information, see...