Ruling Leaves Cloud on Whistleblowers

A federal appeals court last week held that U.S. law can only reach so far into Germany-based Siemens AG ‘s operations, upholding a lower-court ruling dismissing a whistleblower-retaliation claim a former Taiwanese employee brought against the German firm. The former employee sought protection under a strict new U.S. whistleblower law.

“The question that we’re left with is: Why can the government enforce other securities laws internationally but when it comes to enforcing a new securities law designed to protect people who report securities-law violations, it doesn’t reach there?” said Jordan Thomas, partner and chair of a prominent whistleblower representation practice.