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If legal is telling you verbally and its not in your employment agreement, then do whatever you want starting with consulting an actual attorney rather than rea

If legal is telling you verbally and its not in your employment agreement, then do whatever you want starting with consulting an actual attorney rather than reading unqualified opinions on the internet.

hinkley 4y ago
> its not in your employment agreement My employment agreement doesn’t say anything about murder or robbery on it. Does that mean I can kill that guy I don’t like and take his stuff? No? Right, because my employment agreement doesn’t supersede federal laws about violence and theft. Nor, as it turns out, does it grant me immunity from prosecution for insider trading. The legal team isn’t dick waving here. They’re trying to keep him out of jail and them from being subpoenaed, or worse.
- mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
  The legal team is protecting the company, its best to have your own attorney that looks out for you, like I said with the "don't ask the internet for legal advice", advice.
  - hinkley 4y ago
    I was softballing what I said, maybe a little tongue-in-cheek. You're not wrong, but this is a case where the definition of corporate selfishness does bleed a little bit into taking care of their employees due to enlightened self-interest. What little I know about the SEC is that, like the IRS, you don't want them to pay any special attention to you, and having employees up on insider trading charges, even if they are dismissed, tends to get you special attention. The fines for being found doing something bad are pretty high, but the immediate and long-term costs of being found 'dubious' are very high as well. Your company may have to re-file years of paperwork, and then be fastidious for the next ten years. Once you are on their radar you can't skate by doing spirit-of-the-law levels of hygiene on a bunch of tasks. You are having to do letter-of-the-law work on top of it (rules lawyers only lawyer rules that benefit themselves). I don't know what it takes to trigger an audit by the SEC but I'm pretty sure someone going to jail is one of the boxes on that checklist.

hinkley 4y ago

> its not in your employment agreement My employment agreement doesn’t say anything about murder or robbery on it. Does that mean I can kill that guy I don’t like and take his stuff? No? Right, because my employment agreement doesn’t supersede federal laws about violence and theft. Nor, as it turns out, does it grant me immunity from prosecution for insider trading. The legal team isn’t dick waving here. They’re trying to keep him out of jail and them from being subpoenaed, or worse.

mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
The legal team is protecting the company, its best to have your own attorney that looks out for you, like I said with the "don't ask the internet for legal advice", advice.
- hinkley 4y ago
  I was softballing what I said, maybe a little tongue-in-cheek. You're not wrong, but this is a case where the definition of corporate selfishness does bleed a little bit into taking care of their employees due to enlightened self-interest. What little I know about the SEC is that, like the IRS, you don't want them to pay any special attention to you, and having employees up on insider trading charges, even if they are dismissed, tends to get you special attention. The fines for being found doing something bad are pretty high, but the immediate and long-term costs of being found 'dubious' are very high as well. Your company may have to re-file years of paperwork, and then be fastidious for the next ten years. Once you are on their radar you can't skate by doing spirit-of-the-law levels of hygiene on a bunch of tasks. You are having to do letter-of-the-law work on top of it (rules lawyers only lawyer rules that benefit themselves). I don't know what it takes to trigger an audit by the SEC but I'm pretty sure someone going to jail is one of the boxes on that checklist.