In 2015 the corporate world was jolted as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) commenced its first enforcement action against employer‐mandated confidentiality agreements to silence would‐be whistleblowers, imposing sanctions on KBR Inc. (KBR) for contractually restricting its employees from becoming whistleblowers. Lying dormant until this action, Dodd–Frank's Rule 21F‐17, which bars restrictions on SEC whistleblowing, now provides the SEC with an active enforcement mechanism through which the agency regularly penalizes noncompliant employers. Although it is now clear from a regulatory standpoint that such confidentiality agreements violate the law, Rule 21F‐17 is void of guidance or explanation as to a much thornier question—whether employers may restrict their employees from turning over to the SEC internal, confidential documents supporting their whistleblowing disclosures. While incorporating the results of a request by the author under the Freedom of Information Act pertaining to Dodd–Frank's whistleblower submission process, this article is the first scholarly attempt to fill this void in the law. By integrating law from related legal doctrines, including contract law, employment law, and precedent under the False Claims Act, this article proposes regulatory amendments to Rule 21F‐17 that balance the employer's concern of safeguarding confidential documents with the whistleblower's need for providing documentary support of his or her claims. Such clarifications to the law will not only provide the SEC and the courts a clear mechanism to determine the lawfulness of such transmissions, but will, most importantly, serve as advance guidance to whistleblowers as to the boundaries of relying on documentary support as they reveal wrongdoing.

中文翻译：

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通过合同使举报人沉默

2015年，美国证券交易委员会（SEC）开始针对雇主强制性保密协议采取首个执法行动，以制止举报人的沉默，从而对企业界感到震惊，并对KBR Inc.（KBR）实施制裁，以合同形式限制其员工成为告密者。多德-弗兰克（Dodd-Frank）的规则21F-17一直处于休眠状态，直到采取此行动为止，该规则禁止对SEC举报的限制，现在该规则为SEC提供了一种积极的执行机制，该机构通过该机制定期对不合规的雇主进行处罚。尽管从监管的角度来看现在很明显，这种保密协议违反了法律，但对于一个更加棘手的问题，规则21F-17并未提供指导或解释-雇主是否可能限制其雇员上交SEC内部，支持举报披露的机密文件。本文结合了作者根据多德-弗兰克举报程序提交过程所依据的《信息自由法》的要求，这是首次学术研究，试图填补法律空白。通过整合相关法律理论中的法律，包括合同法，雇佣法和《虚假索赔法》下的判例，本文提出了对规则21F-17的监管修正案，以平衡雇主对保护机密文件的关注与举报人提供文件支持的需求之间的平衡。他或她的主张。对法律的这种澄清不仅将为SEC和法院提供一个明确的机制来确定此类传输的合法性，而且最重要的是，