By David Ruiz, From The Recorder
SAN FRANCISCO — A former Oracle Corp. finance manager is accusing the company of firing her because she planned to “blow the whistle” on executives who urged her to falsify financial reports.
Svetlana Blackburn oversaw financial reports for Oracle’s cloud services, according to a suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Blackburn claims that she resisted demands from upper management to “add millions of dollars in accruals to financial reports, with no concrete or foreseeable billing to support the numbers.” Her superiors later added accruals by themselves, the complaint said, and Blackburn was fired as a result in October 2015.
An Oracle spokeswoman said “we don’t agree with the allegations and intend to vigorously defend the matter.”
Blackburn is represented by Daniel Velton of Bay Area firm Velton Zegelman. Velton declined to comment.
Though Blackburn’s exact name does not show up on LinkedIn records, there is a profile for a “Lana Blackburn” who worked at Oracle from September 2014 to October 2015 as a senior finance manager. According to that LinkedIn profile, Blackburn has worked at several companies, including Yahoo Inc., Motorola Mobility and Ernst & Young.
Blackburn’s lawyers contend that as a result of her dismissal Blackburn has “suffered and continues to suffer harm, including… lost earnings and other employment benefits, loss of future employment benefits, including insurance and pension, loss of medical insurance, humiliation, emotional distress, and mental pain and anguish.”
Blackburn’s suit invokes both the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which grant protections to corporate whistleblowers. Blackburn is also suing Oracle for retaliation in violation of the California labor code and for wrongful termination. She is asking for a permanent injunction against Oracle to prevent similar employee firings and for several forms of damages, along with attorney fees.
IMAGE: Oracle’s headquarters in Readwood Shores, CA
Jason Doiy / The Recorder

For more on this story go to: http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202759086452/Suit-Accuses-Oracle-of-Firing-Corporate-Whistleblower#ixzz4AQqrNDJA