Judge: Can't Reinstate Whistleblower

ROANOKE, Va. -- A U.S. District Court judge declined Thursday to enforce a federal labor board's ruling ordering a Virginia bank to reinstate an executive fired after he criticized accounting practices, The Associated Press reported.

Judge Glen Conrad said in a written opinion that the ruling in June by the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board was a preliminary action that he did not have authority to enforce, the AP reported.

The ruling by Conrad came in a closely watched case that tests the nation's protection of corporate whistleblowers -- a long-running dispute between Cardinal Bankshares Corp. and David Welch, its former chief financial officer, the AP reported.

In 2004, Welch became the first worker to win protection as a whistleblower under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Cardinal has refused ever since to reinstate Welch, the AP reported.

In the June ruling, the board denied a request by Cardinal -- a holding company for the Bank of Floyd -- to stay a Labor Department judge's earlier order to take Welch back on an interim basis while it examines the case in full, the AP reported.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 10/6/06