SEC Targeting Broad Employee Confidentiality Clauses

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently contacted a number of companies seeking every confidentiality agreement, nondisclosure agreement, settlement agreement, and severance agreement the companies entered into with employees since the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) went into effect.  According to a February 25, 2015 Wall Street Journal article, the SEC is also seeking documents related to corporate training on confidentiality, as well as "all documents that refer or relate to whistleblowing" and a list of terminated employees. The SEC wants to use these documents as evidence of retaliation against whistleblowers.  In the SEC's view, these agreements can represent a form of systemic retaliation if they are overly broad and serve to silence would-be whistleblowers.