Special Concerns:
Sarbanes-Oxley Claims

Only since 2002 have executives employed by publicly-held companies had legal rights and financial recourse if fired, demoted or otherwise retaliated against for reporting or objecting to corporate wrongdoing. For the first time, corporate officers who retaliate against those who work for them are now being held individually accountable for their retaliatory acts.

YOUR CONCERNS

Executive Employment Executive Compensation Executive Severance Executive Negotiation   SPECIAL CONCERNS SARBANES-OXLEY CLAIMS DISCRIMINATION/HARASSMENT FINANCIAL TRADERS & ANALYSTS FEDERAL "WHISTLE-BLOWER" LAWSUITS

Two weeks later, Dennis and the company’s CFO participated in a regularly scheduled conference call with Wall Street analysts. During that call, one analyst asked why Matt’s division was so successful, and asked whether it was “aberrational, or sustainable.” Dennis, the CEO, responded that it was due to Matt’s great leadership.

Matt was astounded. There was no mention of his division’s inevitable failure to meet targeted numbers in the next quarter. There was no mention of the fact that other country-wide divisions, too, may have the same problem. He called Dennis, and shared with him his discomfort, and suggested they issue a corrective statement regarding the omission of the sales tax problem in the analyst conference call.

Two weeks later Matt was summoned to New York to a meeting with the CEO at corporate headquarters. At the meeting, Matt was summarily fired, told not to return to his office, and immediately denied all payments and benefits, including return travel arrangements to the U.S. for his family. A week later he received a letter from the General Counsel, advising him that he’d been fired for “cause,” on the basis of his “misappropriation of corporate assets.” He allegedly had a $16.00 local magazine subscription mailed to his home paid with company funds. (Matt would read the magazine on the weekend, and bring it into the visitor waiting room on Monday.)

After the company refused our requests to meet and talk, we filed a Sarbanes-Oxley complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Labor in New York. With our counsel, Matt had to sit through a 4-hour series of in-depth questions. When it came time for the company to file its written answer with the Dept. of Labor, and then have Dennis, its CEO, sit through his own “interrogation,” General Counsel asked for “a meeting.” Within a week, the matter was settled: Matt was given a sizable severance package, including additional stock, with full benefits, and an apology, as well. In return, he released Dennis, the CEO, and the Company, from further claims.

Not all complaints can be expected to be handled as expeditiously and as successfully as was Matt’s. But things today are truly different: there now exists every reason to expect your Sarbanes-Oxley complaint of retaliation to be taken seriously by the U.S. Government, your corporate employer, and the courts. The day has passed when individuals who stand up for the values espoused by their corporate employers can be fired or otherwise retaliated against for doing so. Sarbanes-Oxley has truly begun to bring much-needed personal accountability to those who run our public companies.

We welcome your inquiries on Sarbanes-Oxley.

"A strong corporate culture is the invisible hand that guides how things
are done in an organization. The phrase "You just don't do that here"
is extremely powerful, more so than any written rules or policy manuals."

                                                                     - Andrew S. Grove            
                                                                      Former CEO, Intel Corp.