A final rule published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has smoothed the path for employees to file whistleblower retaliation claims under the Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank acts and put companies in a more difficult spot to defend themselves.
OSHA completed the rule this month (more than three years after the publication of its interim rule) to implement a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act that expanded whistleblower protections under Section 806 of the Dodd-Frank Act. The final rule is substantially similar to the interim rule: It broadens the definition of who qualifies as a whistleblower, expands the protections provided to whistleblowers, and extends the statute of limitations for filing a whistleblower retaliation complaint from 90 to 180 days.
