The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that it considers illegal any employer-imposed limitation on employees’ ability to disclose confidential trade secret information to the SEC, if the employee wants to make disclosure in pursuit of whistleblower claims. Indeed, the SEC wants employers to affirmatively advise employees of their right to do so.
On Oct. 24, 2016, the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations released a Risk Alert specifically warning that the agency “is reviewing a variety of documents,” including compliance manuals, codes of ethics, employment agreements, and severance agreements, for language that is contrary to SEC regulations on disclosure of information in pursuit of whistleblower claims.1
