On July 16, 2020, the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a former IT analyst’s whistleblower retaliation claim, holding that he lacked an objectively reasonable belief that his complaints implicated one of the enumerated forms of fraud in the SOX whistleblower provision. Reilly v. GlaxoSmithKline, LLC, No. 19-cv-2897.
Background
Plaintiff was an IT analyst for the Company, where his duties included maintaining the Company’s AS/400 computer servers and addressing performance and security issues related to them. Beginning in 2011, Plaintiff allegedly began complaining to his supervisor about performance issues caused by the decision to “uncap” the servers’ processors, which allowed them to share capacity. In 2013, he allegedly voiced an additional concern that the servers’ access management plan provided certain users with more authority than they should be allowed. Plaintiff was placed in charge of remediating both of the foregoing issues. Plaintiff escalated his complaints to the Company’s compliance office in 2014, then to the CEO in 2015, adding that he believed these issues were not adequately disclosed in the Company’s 2013 SEC report. In response, the Company conducted two internal investigations, both of which concluded that Plaintiff’s complaints were unfounded.
In 2014, due to a decision to outsource management of the AS/400 servers, Plaintiff was notified that his department would be reduced to one analyst position and one manager position. Believing he was “protected” due to his complaints, plaintiff decided not to apply for the remaining analyst position and his employment was eventually terminated in June 2015. One month later, Plaintiff filed a SOX whistleblower retaliation complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Court granted the Company’s motion for summary judgment (see our pos ..
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