105
edits
Difference between revisions of "Whistleblower Protection Laws"
→Remedies Available to Prevailing Trucking Industry Whistleblowers
| Line 656: | Line 656: | ||
In Fink v. R&L Transfer, Inc., the ARB affirmed an award of compensatory damages in the amount of $100,000.00, and punitive damages in the amount of $50,000 to a truck driver who was terminated for refusing to drive in unsafe winter weather conditions. | In Fink v. R&L Transfer, Inc., the ARB affirmed an award of compensatory damages in the amount of $100,000.00, and punitive damages in the amount of $50,000 to a truck driver who was terminated for refusing to drive in unsafe winter weather conditions. | ||
=='''How to File a Trucking Safety Whistleblower Retaliation Action'''== | |||
A STAA whistleblowing complaint must be filed initially with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) within 180 days of when the whistleblower knew or should have known of the retaliatory action. | |||
=='''Consumer Financial Protection Act'''== | |||
The anti-retaliation provision of the Consumer Financial Protection Act provides a cause of action for corporate whistleblowers who suffer retaliation for raising concerns about potential violations of rules or regulations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. | |||
OSHA has issued final rules implementing the whistleblower protection provision of the Consumer Financial Protection Act (CFPA). Enacted as Section 1057 of the Dodd-Frank Act, the CFPA’s whistleblower protection provision provides robust protection to employees who disclose fraud related to consumer financial protection services. | |||
The whistleblower protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act also provides strong protection for whistleblowers. Click here to download a helpful guide to the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protection law. | |||
=='''Banking Industry Employees Protected by the Consumer Financial Protection Whistleblower Law'''== | |||
The term “covered employee” means “any individual performing tasks related to the offering or provision of a consumer financial product or service.” The CFPA defines a “consumer financial product or service” to include “a wide variety of financial products or services offered or provided for use by consumers primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, and certain financial products or services that are delivered, offered, or provided in connection with a consumer financial product or service . . . Examples of these include . .. residential mortgage origination, lending, brokerage and servicing, and related products and services such as mortgage loan modification and foreclosure relief; student loans; payday loans; and other financial services such as debt collection, credit reporting, credit cards and related activities, money transmitting, check cashing and related activities, prepaid cards, and debt relief services.” | |||
Recently the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Calderone v. Sonic Houston JLR, L.P that the CFPA does not protect employees of auto dealers. | |||
=='''Scope of Protected Whistleblowing About Consumer Financial Protection Violations'''== | |||
The CFPA protects disclosures made to an employer, to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or any State, local, or Federal, government authority or law enforcement agency concerning any act or omission that the employee reasonably believes to be a violation of any CFPB regulation or any other consumer financial protection law that the Bureau enforces. This includes several federal laws regulating “unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices . . . related to the provision of consumer financial products or services.” | |||
Some of the matters the CFPB regulates include: | |||
*kickbacks paid to mortgage issuers or insurers; | |||
*deceptive advertising; | |||
*discriminatory lending practices, including a violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”); | |||
*excessive fees; | |||
*any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt; and | |||
*debt collection activities that violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). | |||
The ECOA prohibits creditors from discriminating against “any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction—on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or marital status, or age (provided the applicant has the capacity to contract).” 15 U.S.C. § 1691(a)(1). | |||
CFPA protected conduct includes disclosures concerning: | |||
*'''Loan fraud'''' – Where the plaintiff banker reported a fellow banker for preparing a loan for disbursement without providing the borrower three days to rescind their decision to borrow as required by state and federal consumer protection statutes, the District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia held this could be protected activity. Vaghela v. Huntington Bancshares, Inc., 2018 WL 2014087 (S.D. W.Va. Apr. 30, 2018). | |||
*'''Mortgage overbilling''' – Where the plaintiff mortgage attorney reported what he believed to be a widespread practice of significant overbilling of mortgage loans by a mortgage foreclosure firm, the District Court for the District of Maryland held that this could be protected. Yoder v. O’Neil Group, LLC, 2017 WL 6206074 (D. Md. Dec. 8, 2017). | |||
*'''Banking fraud''' – Where former bank employees alleged termination for reporting fraudulent sales practices that they alleged were violations of the Truth in Lending Act, the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act, and the Real Estate and Settlement Procedures Act, the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held reporting violations of any of these statutes would be protected activity and retaliatory termination for objecting to these violations would violate the CFPA. Lysik v. Citibank, N.A., 2017 WL 4164037 (N.D. Ill. Sep. 20, 2017). | |||
*'''Lapses in bank management and judgment''' – Where a bank’s treasurer and chief financial officer uncovered and reported serious mismanagement of a bank and its funds, including the bank’s president using the business credit card for personal expenses and engaging in pattern of unusual check cashing by cashing checks by placing holds on employee accounts, the District Court for the District of Massachusetts held this could constitute protected activity. Becotte v. Cooperative Bank, 2017 WL 886967 (D. Mass. Mar. 6, 2017). | |||
While the CFPB’s whistleblower protections are relatively broad, simply asking questions about alleged violations of banking laws will generally not constitute protected conduct. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that where a mortgage loan originator had a conversation with his employer bank’s mortgage compliance department about the obligation to mail out adverse action notices informing mortgage loan applicants that they had been denied loans and liability for failure to do so, he did not engage in protected activity. The court held the plaintiff-employee did not engage in protected activity because he did not object to the unlawful practice and instead only asked questions confirming and clarification what he should do in the future. The court, in its decision, implied that if the mortgage loan originator had instead objected to unlawful activity rather than only asking questions, his activity would have been protected under the CFPA, and his employer may have violated the statute by terminating his employment. See Veard v. F&M Bank, 704 Fed. Appx. 469 (6th Cir. 2017). | |||