SEC Whistleblower Rights
Becoming a whistleblower is risky business. There’s no denying that. However, whistleblowers are essential to exposing fraud within the securities industry. It’s a simple fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) simply isn’t large enough to regulate the industry without help.
Because of this, SEC whistleblowers enjoy a number of legal rights and protections. The goal of these rights is to make more people comfortable with the idea of coming forward and reporting what they know.
However, it’s difficult to protect your whistleblower rights if you don’t know what they are:
The Right to Be an Anonymous Whistleblower
Whistleblowers have the right to protect their identity and remain anonymous. As long as you work with properly accredited legal counsel, you can submit your tip to the SEC without attaching your name to it. If the SEC declines to investigate, you’ll never have to reveal that it was you who submitted the tip. Likewise, your employer won’t know.
If the SEC does investigate, you’ll eventually have to identify yourself to the SEC so that you can collect your reward. The SEC only publicly divulges the identities of whistleblowers if legally compelled to do so—which is incredibly rare.
The Right to Protection Against Retaliation
As a whistleblower reporting illegal activity, the target of the SEC investigation does not have the right to retaliate against you. They broke the law, after all.
If the target does attempt to retaliate against you, such as through termination or smearing your professional reputation, you have the option to take them to court in order to secure a whistleblower retaliation settlement.
The settlement will allow you to return to your previous position with double back-pay, and you might be eligible for special damages to cover the emotional distress and pain caused by the retaliation. The settlement should also fully compensate the cost of litigating the retaliation.
Protect Your Whistleblower Rights
As an SEC whistleblower, you have rights—and the only way to take full advantage of them all is to work with an experienced whistleblower attorney. Contact Meissner Associates today to protect your identity and ensure that none of your rights are violated.
Get started with a free, confidential tip evaluation today by calling 1-866-764-3100 or by completing the evaluation request form found below.