Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
SYNOPSIS
Provides whistleblower rights and protections to certain executives of companies who object to, or refuse to, participate in activity allegedly in violation of fiduciary responsibilities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act extending whistleblower rights and protections to certain individuals and supplementing P.L.1986, c.105 (C.34:19-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this act:
C-suite executive means an individual who occupies a senior executive leadership position within a company, which includes, but is not limited to, a chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer.
b. The provisions of P.L.1986, c.105 (C.34:19-1 et seq.), including the protections provided to employees at section 3 of P.L.1986, c.105 (C.34:19-3), shall extend to a C-suite executive who reports to and takes direction from a board of directors, or a subcommittee thereof, and receives a request to take action that the executive alleges to be against the fiduciary responsibilities the executive has to the company that employees the executive.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill extends the whistleblower rights and protections of the Conscientious Employee Protection Act to a C-suite executive who reports to and takes direction from a board of directors, or a subcommittee thereof, and receives a request to take action that the executive alleges to be against the fiduciary responsibilities the executive has to the company that employs the executive. Under the bill, C-suite executive is defined to mean an individual who occupies a senior executive leadership position within a company, which includes, but is not limited to, a chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. The bill is intended, in part, to address situations in which a senior executive is pressured to take action that is different from what a board of directors, or board subcommittee, originally requested of the senior executive. This includes actions requested by a single board member or an individual employee of a company, such as a private equity fund, that invests in the company that employs the senior executive.