According to the United States Supreme Court, the whistleblower protection also applies to the subcontractors of publicly traded companies. These accounting firms, law firms, investment advisers and other similar businesses that are working for the public companies. The three dissenting justices say that the rule could give protection even to household employees like babysitters.
The Wall Street reform law (part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act) was interpreted by the justices. It has been passed by Congress, the authority laying the principles of governance for all business entities in the country including publicly traded company boards, management and public accounting firms.
According to legal professionals, the new ruling will be applicable to more number of companies – it will increase to several millions (including small businesses) from 5,000 today.
Source – Chicagotribune.com