Several House Democrats say they fear Wall Street is using confidentiality agreements to keep people from blowing the whistle on misconduct.\u00a0 Eight House Democrats sent a letter Monday urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to send a \u201cstrong message\u201d that such agreements won\u2019t be tolerated and consider \u201cbringing enforcement actions if necessary.\u201d “While there are legitimate reasons for companies to use confidentiality agreements to protect sensitive information, such agreements should be structured as narrowly as possible,” wrote the lawmakers. “Employees should also be clearly informed that these agreements in no way restrict their right to voluntarily report securities law violations to the Commission.”<\/p>\n
The 2010 Wall Street Reform Law, commonly referred to as Dodd-Frank, created the Office of the Whistleblower Protection within the SEC to try to encourage people to step forward with information about wrongdoing in the financial sector.\u00a0 The lawmakers said the office has seen success, and are concerned that those gains could be jeopardized by the confidentiality agreements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also concerned by a growing body of anecdotal evidence describing retaliation through litigation and on-the-job harassment, which if left unaddressed, will also deter future reporting of securities violations,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
Several House Democrats say they fear Wall Street is using confidentiality agreements to keep people from blowing the whistle on misconduct.\u00a0 Eight House Democrats sent a letter Monday urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to send a \u201cstrong message\u201d … Continue reading ![\"Silencing](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Silencing-Whistleblowers.jpg\")
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