United States Fourth Circuit

In an employment retaliation action under the whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, grant of defendant's motion to dismiss in favor of remand to the appropriate administrative body for further proceedings is vacated and remanded as the plain language of section 1514A(b)(1)(B) unambiguously establishes a Sarbanes-Oxely whistleblower complainant's right to de novo review in federal district court if the Department of Labor has not issued a final decision and the statutory 180-day period has expired.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/31/2009
• Published 12/31/2009

Judges

• Before NIEMEYER and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and Mark S. DAVIS, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, sitting by designation.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:Adam Augustine Carter, Employment Law Group, PC, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Robert Michael Shea, Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton, PC, Waltham, Massachusetts, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:R. Scott Oswald, Employment Law Group, PC, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Scott J. Connolly, Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton, PC, Waltham, Massachusetts, for Appellees. Richard R. Renner, National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund, Washington, DC; Thomas Devine, Legal Director, Kasey Dunton-Dermont, Government Accountability Project, Washington, DC, for Amici Supporting Appellant.