SEC: Confidentiality Agreements Cannot Impede Whistleblowers

The SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower’s top priority going into 2016 will be to assess company confidentiality agreements for compliance with Rule 21-F-17(a). Rule 21F-17(a) provides that no person may take any action to impede an individual from reporting information about wrongdoing to the SEC. The OWB’s primary focus in enforcing Rule 21-F-17(a) has been to discourage companies from enforcing or threatening to enforce confidentiality agreements that prohibit employees from discussing the substance of interviews they gave in internal investigations without the approval of the company's legal department.

We previously reported on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s efforts to crack down on anti-whistleblower agreements earlier this year. At that time, the SEC brought charges and accepted payment of a penalty related to a company’s anti-whistleblower confidentiality agreements. It is clear from the OWB’s 2015 Annual Report that the SEC will be prioritizing