U.S. authorities have reached beyond the country's borders to extract huge settlements from foreign firms like BNP Paribas SA, Total SA and Credit Suisse Group AG, but a new court ruling may mean U.S. law doesn't extend far enough to protect certain whistleblowers who flag such violations, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A federal appeals court last week held that U.S. law can only reach so far into Germany-based Siemens AG's operations, upholding a lower-court ruling dismissing a whistleblower-retaliation claim a former Taiwanese employee brought against the German firm. The former employee sought protection under a strict new U.S. whistleblower law. The ruling held that the provisions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-reform law that prohibit retaliation against whistleblower employees don't apply to the former Siemens China staffer. The ruling cited a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that says that legislation doesn't apply outside the U.S. unless there is evidence Congress indicated otherwise.
