Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Hastings Law Journal
Publication Date
2021
ISSN
0017-8322
Page Number
1663
Keywords
blood testing, employment law, non-disclosure agreements, whistleblowing
Disciplines
Labor and Employment Law | Law
Abstract
Theranos, Inc., the unicorn startup blood-testing corporation, was ultimately laid low by a former employee whistleblower. The experience of that whistleblower during and after her employment illuminates detrimental secrecy practices within the startup sector, as well as legal and practical barriers to corporate accountability. Theranos sought to avoid exposure by cultivating an environment of secrecy and intimidation, and by aggressively extracting and enforcing nondisclosure agreements. The legal landscape for whistleblowers facilitated this strategy: while whistleblowing employees enjoyed certain protections under anti-retaliation statutes, trade secrets statutes, and common law contract principles, these protections were neither readily accessible nor certain. This Article critically examines the contours and ambiguities of those legal frameworks, using the Theranos case study, and offers observations on the need for a harmonized public policy to facilitate private sector whistleblowing.
Recommended Citation
Lauren Rogal,
Secrets, Lies, and Lessons from the Theranos Scandal, 72 Hastings Law Journal. 1663
(2021)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1224