The new Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rule implementing whistleblower and bounty hunter provisions established under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is scheduled to take effect on October 24, 2011. Section 748 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act amends the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) by, among other things, creating a “Commodity Whistleblower Incentives and Protection” program that rewards whistleblowers who contribute original information that leads the agency to recover monetary sanctions of $1,000,000 or more with 10-30% of any amount recovered. The provisions also prohibit employers from discharging, demoting, suspending, threatening, harassing (directly or indirectly) or otherwise discriminating against an employee for: (1) providing information to CFTC in accordance with the commodity whistleblower incentive program; or (2) assisting in an investigation or judicial or administrative action relating to the information provided. The Dodd-Frank Act creates a similar program under the Securities and Exchange Act.

The final rule has garnered significant criticism from business advocates for its failure to require employees to first avail themselves of their organization’s internal reporting process. Instead, the rule states that the CFTC would factor into the consideration of any award amount whether the employee first reported potential misconduct internally. A bill has been introduced that would require employees to first report potential misconduct through the company’s internal reporting system before being eligible to cash in on the monetary rewards offered under the CFTC and SEC whistleblower bounty programs.