Workforce Bulletin

Before the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd Frank”) was enacted, whistleblower claims by registered representatives, including those arising pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) were subject to mandatory arbitration at FINRA.  See FINRA Notice 12-21 (PDF).  Dodd Frank changed that.  Dodd Frank specifically amended SOX to provide that “[n]o dispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforceable, if the agreement requires arbitration of a dispute arising under this section.”  In addition, SOX was also amended to ...

By:  John F. Fullerton III

This is the third in our series of posts on practice and procedure in employment-related arbitrations before FINRA.  Check back often for future posts, subscribe by e-mail (see the sidebar), or follow @FSemployer on Twitter so you don’t miss any updates!

Once upon a time, it was mandatory under Form U4 that registered representatives file any statutory claims of discrimination (such as age, gender, or race discrimination) in arbitration rather than in court.  A well known Supreme Court case decided in 1991, Gilmer v.  Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp.