Opinion ID: 180080
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Claim Accrual Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Text: SOX grants whistleblower protection to employees of publicly traded companies by prohibiting employers from retaliating against employees for reporting certain potentially unlawful conduct. 18 U.S.C. § 1514A. The whistleblower-protection provision provides, in relevant part: No [publicly traded company], or any officer, employee, contractor, subcontractor, or agent of such company, may discharge, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, or in any other manner discriminate against an employee in the terms and conditions of employment because of any lawful act done by the employee ... to provide information ... regarding any conduct which the employee reasonably believes constitutes a violation of section 1341 [mail fraud], 1343 [wire fraud], 1344 [bank fraud], or 1348 [securities fraud], any rule or regulation of the [SEC], or any provision of Federal law relating to fraud against shareholders, when the information ... is provided to ... a person with supervisory authority over the employee.... Id. § 1514A(a)(1)(C). A plaintiff seeking whistleblower protection under SOX must first file an administrative complaint with OSHA, see 29 C.F.R. § 1980.103(c), not later than 90 days after the date on which the violation occurs, 18 U.S.C. § 1514A(b)(2)(D); see also 29 C.F.R. § 1980.103(d). The violation occurs when the discriminatory decision has been both made and communicated to the complainant. 29 C.F.R. § 1980.103(d). We commence our analysis by considering whether the discriminatory decision was made and communicated to Coppinger-Martin when she learned that her employment was being terminated, or when she learned that other employees had continued to perform her former duties. We have previously held, in the context of civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985, and 1986, that a plaintiff's claim accrues when the plaintiff learns of the actual injury, i.e., an adverse employment action, and not when the plaintiff suspects a legal wrong, i.e., that the employer acted with a discriminatory intent. Lukovsky v. City & Cnty. of S.F., 535 F.3d 1044, 1049-51 (9th Cir.2008), cert. denied sub nom., Zolotarev v. City & Cnty. of S.F., ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1997, 173 L.Ed.2d 1086 (2009). Our sister circuits agree, in a variety of employment discrimination contexts, that a claim accrues when a plaintiff discovers the injury rather than the legal wrong. [1] Coppinger-Martin's claim similarly accrued, and the statute of limitations began to run, when she learned of the actual injury, i.e., that Nordstrom had decided to terminate her employment. Although Little originally told Coppinger-Martin that her employment with Nordstrom would end earlier, she continued to work for the company until April 21, 2006. Even if the decision to terminate her employment was initially unclear, it was unquestionably communicated to her by her final day of work. Nevertheless, Coppinger-Martin filed her complaint on October 13, 2006, more than 90 days after her final day of work. Therefore, unless the date of accrual was tolled, her complaint was filed untimely.