​As we have previously noted here, in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers, the United States Supreme Court will decide how to interpret the term “whistleblower” under the Dodd-Frank Act, and how to apply the term to the Act’s anti-retaliation provisions.

The Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., recently issued a memo outlining a plan to implement sweeping changes to a bill he introduced last year known as the Financial CHOICE Act. Hensarling’s five-page memorandum, titled “CHOICE Act 2.0 Changes,” outlines revisions to the draft legislation which could strip significant power from the SEC and sharply impact that agency’s Whistleblower Program.

On September 10, 2015, the Second Circuit held that an employee who reports wrongdoing internally -- but not to the SEC -- is protected under the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.  In Berman v. Neo@Ogilvie LLC, the plaintiff, a finance director of the defendant, alleged that he was fired after internally reporting that some of the defendant’s practices amounted to accounting fraud. He did not timely report any allegedly unlawful activities to the SEC.