Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) created a new federal anti-retaliation protection for corporate whistleblowers. Initially, the Department of Labor Administrative Review Board (ARB) and federal courts limited the scope of section 806 by holding that a whistleblower must report conduct that “definitively and specifically” relates to a violation of one of the rules, regulations, or laws listed in section 806 to engage in protected activity. Recently, however, the ARB abandoned this approach, and held that a whistleblower engages in protected activity under section 806 when she reports information that she “reasonably believes” relates to a violation of one of the rules, regulations, or laws listed in section 806.

The ARB’s decision to adopt the “reasonably believes” standard should be entitled to Chevron deference. However, empirical studies indicate that in cases where Chevron should apply, courts engage in ad hoc statutory interpretation nearly as often as they defer to the agency decision.

This Note argues that in the foreseeable event that a court neglects Chevron and engages in ad hoc statutory interpretation the reasonably believes standard should govern the scope of protected activity under section 806 for several reasons. First, the definitively and specifically standard conflicts with the text of section 806. Second, the legislative history of section 806 supports the reasonably believes standard. Third, the reasonably believes standard is more consistent with the reasonable person standard that Congress intended. Finally, the reasonably believes standard serves two important public policy goals: harmonizing the protected activity standards under SOX and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and helping to remedy the lack of success whistleblowers have had using section 806’s anti-retaliation protections.