Corporate America is facing new challenges this proxy season in winning shareholder approval for executive compensation, thanks to provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act that give shareholders a non-binding vote on executive pay packages. But companies have a corollary headache thanks to those provisions, as well: They have led to a host of shareholder lawsuits.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...