Last week, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC)
announced that it had awarded $7.5 million to three
whistleblowers who provided tips that led to OSC enforcement
actions. The awards were the first ever made by a Canadian
securities regulator and garnered significant press coverage due to
their size.
Despite the publicity surrounding large whistleblower awards,
statistics show that the vast majority of employee whistleblowers
choose to first report misconduct internally within their
organization before deciding whether to approach regulators. As a
result, in-house counsel's decisions about how to handle an
internal whistleblower complaint can often make the difference
between a complaint that is addressed internally and one that leads
to regulatory investigation or litigation. This article provides a
practical step-by-step guide for in-house counsel to follow in the
immediate aftermath of a whistleblower complaint.
