The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that an employee claiming whistleblower retaliation under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) cannot sue his employer in federal court on a claim that he failed to raise in his administrative complaint filed with the Department of Labor (DOL).
The decision by the appeals court in Wallace v. Tesoro Corporation, No. 13-51010 (5th Cir. July 31, 2015), adopts the same standard that applies to court cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), which limits lawsuits to claims that could reasonably grow out of the charge the complainant filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The plaintiff in this case had attempted to litigate a claim that was raised for the first time in his SOX lawsuit.
A copy of the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Tesoro is available online at http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/13/13-51010-CV0.pdf.