WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released its final rule implementing Dodd-Frank whistleblower regulations, providing employee protection under the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, commonly referred to as Dodd-Frank, was brought into effect in July 2010 in a bid to make important changes to financial regulation in the United States.
One year ago, the new whistleblower regulations were first proposed by the OSHA, implementing section 1057 of the Dodd-Frank Act.
“Section 1057 of Dodd-Frank prohibits retaliation against an employee who has provided or is about to provide to their employee, the Bureau or other governmental authority, information relating to any act that they reasonably believe violates Dodd-Frank or other rule promulgated by the (Consumer Financial Protection) Bureau,” Emilie Adams, associate at Proskauer, recently told Legal Newsline.
If a complaint is to be filed, it must be done within 180 days of the alleged retaliation.
Adams said that OSHA’s rule specifies that whistleblower complaints, which can be verbal or written, do not need to conform to the pleading standards for complaints filed in federal district court.
Instead, the complaint must only "alert OSHA to the existence of the alleged retaliation and the complainant’s desire that OSHA investigate the complaint.”
“This relaxed pleading standard coupled with the broad scope of 'protected activity' under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which is also enforced by OSHA, makes the Department of Labor an attractive potential venue for purported whistleblowers and their attorneys,” she said.