The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said whistleblower protections of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act apply not just to publicly traded companies but also to subcontractors that do business with them. The justices voted 6-3 along non-ideological lines in a ruling that extends whistleblower protections to investment advisers, law firms, accounting firms and other such businesses working for public companies. The three dissenting justices said the ruling had a "stunning reach" that could give protections far beyond that, potentially even reaching household employees like babysitters. The National Federation of Independent Business criticized the decision, saying in a statement that it gave plaintiffs' lawyers "additional incentives to pursue aggressive litigation" against employers. The justices were interpreting part of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the 2002 Wall Street reform law passed by Congress that sets standards for all U.S. publicly traded company boards, management and public accounting
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