Retaliation will get you in trouble not just under discrimination laws, but under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as well

On September 14, 2011, Bank of America was ordered by OSHA to reinstate an employee and pay approximately $930,000 dollars in back wages, interest, compensatory damages and attorney fees to an employee that was fired in violation of the whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The employee led internal investigations that revealed widespread wire, mail and bank fraud involving employees of Countrywide Financial Corp., which merged with Bank of America in 2008.  The employee found that those who attempted to report fraud to Countrywide’s Employee Relations Department suffered persistent retaliation.  The employee was fired shortly after the merger.  OSHA, which enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act found that Bank of America used illegal retaliatory tactics against this employee who had reported potential fraud.   Bank of America has 30 days to appeal the ruling to the Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges.
Post by: Richard N. Sheinis

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