Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ANTITRUST NEWS: Protections for antitrust whistleblowers advance in Senate, (Jul 16, 2015)

By Jeffrey May, J.D.

Employees who report suspected criminal antitrust activity to their employer or the federal government could soon be shielded from workplace retaliation for their revelations under the proposed “Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act of 2015.” Today, the bipartisan bill (S. 1599) was reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The legislation is intended to provide antitrust whistleblower protections for employees. An employee who alleges discharge or other discrimination can seek relief from the U.S. Department of Labor. Relief could include reinstatement, back pay, and compensation for litigation costs and attorney fees. The protections are modeled on whistleblower protections contained in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) sponsored the proposed legislation. As introduced on June 17, S. 1599 was identical to a bill passed unanimously by the Senate in the last Congress. According to Senator Grassley a “few concerns that were raised this Congress” had been “ironed out” and were reflected in a Managers’ Amendment.

The whistleblower protections would be added to the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act of 2004. That law provides protections for companies that are the first to self-report antitrust violations to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and are accepted into the Antitrust Division's leniency program.

In a statement released today before the executive business meeting taking up the bill, Senator Grassley suggested that the proposal is intended to address the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act's failure to provide “protections for innocent third-parties who blow the whistle on criminal antitrust activity.”

“Since we’re willing to incentivize folks to report their own bad behavior, surely we ought to protect those who blow the whistle on the bad behavior of others,” Grassley said. “In this case, that bad behavior harms businesses, consumers, and our economy.”

University financial aid cooperation. In other federal antitrust legislation news, the Senate on July 14 unanimously passed bipartisan legislation to extend an expiring antitrust exemption that allows colleges and universities that admit students on a need-blind basis to collaborate on the formula used to determine need-based financial aid. The proposed “Need-Based Educational Aid Act of 2015” (S. 1482) extends the exemption for another seven years through 2022.”

A provision of the existing exemption that extended the antitrust exemption to the exchange of student data through an independent third party under limited circumstances would be sunsetted. According to Senator Leahy, a sponsor of the measure, that particular provision had never been used by the schools.

News: Antitrust