By Gary Giampetruzzi, Jessica Montes and Jessica Baker ( April 19, 2018, 11:03 AM EDT) -- In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Digital Realty, employees with knowledge of possible federal securities law violations are now more incentivized to report such violations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in lieu of, or before reporting to, their employers in order to take advantage of anti-retaliation protection under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which Digital Realty eliminated for purely internal whistleblowers. Further enhancing the incentive to report violations to the SEC is the agency's recently announced $33 million Dodd-Frank whistleblower award, the largest Dodd-Frank whistleblower award to date. This necessarily places increased pressure on company compliance programs to encourage internal whistleblowing, and thus companies are strongly encouraged to ensure their monitoring, reporting and investigation policies, procedures and practices are in a position to sufficiently incentivize and encourage employees to report securities law violations internally.  ...