A recent case , Spinner vs Lawson, extended the definition of the whisteblower under Section 806 of SOX. According to the ruling in the case, not only public company employees but also the contractors or sub contractors of the public company could be whistleblower and will get same protection as the employees. In this case a CPA who worked for David Landau and Associates sued and won the argument that he was protected as a whistleblower under SOX. He was assigned full-time to provide auditing services to S.L. Green Realty, a publicly traded company. When David Landau & Associates removed him from the account and fired him, he alleged that the termination was because he had uncovered control issues and reconciliation problems at S.L. Green Realty.
So now not only would public companies be sued under whistleblowers provision, even auditors, lawyers, tax preparers, any kind of contractors or sub contractors of the public companies are covered.
