This is a very scary blog post that should be considered by all of us who work with publicly traded companies. Essentially, BlueLinx, a publicly traded company, included language in its severance agreements similar to the language that I suspect many of us use which acknowledges that former employee's right to participate in an EEOC investigation but prohibits the former employee from receiving any financial benefit from the same. The SEC's cease and desist Order states that such language "removed the critically
important financial incentives that are intended to encourage persons to communicate directly with
the Commission staff about possible securities law violations." The Order also acknowledged that broad confidentiality language undermines "the purpose of Section 21F [of the Dodd-Frank law], which is to 'encourage individuals to report to the Commission, and violates Rule 21F-17(a) [of Dodd-Frank] by impeding individuals from communicating
directly with the Commission staff about possible securities law violations."
I have attached a copy of the White Collar blog post and a copy of the cease and desist order which contains specific language that the SEC finds can be acceptably included in severance agreements.
http://www.fcpablog.com/blog/2016/8/10/sec-fines-company-for-severance-agreements-that-violated-whi.html
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2016/34-78528.pdf