The SEC has doled out over $50 million in awards to 15 individuals since it inaugurated the Dodd-Frank mandated whistleblower program 3 years ago. That program permits whistleblower awards of 10% to 30% of the total money recovered from a securities law violator provided the sanctions exceed $1 million. Whistleblower awards are usually restricted to individuals who provide original information derived from their independent knowledge or analyses. Failure to be deemed an “original” source of information is ordinarily the end of a whistleblower claim.

On March 2, 2015, however, the SEC approved an award of $475,000 to $575,000 to an unnamed executive who merely passed along original information.[1] That award stemmed from a special carve-out designed to incentivize officers and directors to report out where the company fails to take corrective action. Specifically, an executive may be entitled to a whistleblower award if he or she reports information to the SEC 120 days after alerting upper management of the problem. Similarly, if upper management is already aware of the problem at the time the executive learns of it, the executive-whistleblower must wait 120 days before reporting to the SEC.

The rationale for the 120-day rule is two-fold. On the one hand, the SEC wants to protect companies that have robust compliance programs in place and a strong compliance tone from the top. After all, companies who invest in compliance programs and take potential violations seriously should be afforded a safe harbor whereby they are protected from individuals hoping to make a quick buck by passing information along before the 120-day period expires.

On the other hand, the SEC realizes that executives and directors are uniquely placed to take action when upper management will not remedy the problem. Executives regularly receive management and compliance reports and are often the first persons to whom an employee will turn to report an issue. The SEC wants to incentivize such executives to step forward when upper management refuses to take corrective action.

However, an executive considering becoming a whistleblower risks significant reputational and financial harm. Although the whistleblower process is anonymous, upper management at the company may be able to figure out who reported out and may take retaliatory action against that individual.   Or, the individual may have already resigned due to irreconcilable differences with the company. In either case, there is no guarantee of a whistleblower award. Accordingly, executives and directors thinking about “reporting out” should carefully consider the quality of the information they possess and the potential financial and reputational risks.

[1] https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2015-45.html#.VP79EIHF87M