Sarbox Loophole?

"Congress wants to close a legislative loophole that has led to the dismissal of many corporate whistleblower complaints, undermining the government's goal of protecting employees who report fraud at publicly traded companies. Democratic lawmakers are seeking to amend the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's whistleblower-protection provision. Under the law, employees who claim to have been dismissed for reporting wrongdoing can file an adminstrative complaint with the US Department of Labor. ... In articles last year, the [WSJ] reported that the Labor Department has dismissed many whistleblower complaints on a technicality, saying the law, as written, doesn't apply to corporate subsidiaries. ... Under the Bush administration, Labor Department lawyers issued a directive saying there is 'no legal basis for the argument that subsidiaries of covered corporations are automatically covered,' because the language of the law does't 'expressly' mention subsidiaries. Sen Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and one of the main authors of the whistleblower provision, says Congress never meant to exclude subsidiaries", Jennfier Levitz at the WSJ, 1 December 2009, link:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703939404574568272685253690.html.

The Bush adminstration's interpretation of this law was indefensible. See my 16 September 2008 post:

http://skepticaltexascpa.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarbox-scam-2.html. Apparently I understand legal interpretation better than the DOL's lawyers. Big deal.