Five years after being the first to file for whistle-blower protection under Sarbanes-Oxley, former CFO David Welch has lost the family farm and his savings, and still doesn’t have a job.

When David Welch became the first person to win protection under the whistle-blower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act back in 2002, the former CFO of Cardinal Bancshares figured he would be back at work shortly.

“I thought everything would be fine when I filed the complaint,” he recalls. “I just wanted my job back. I enjoyed being a CFO.”

Nearly five years later, Welch is still unemployed, despite a Department of Labor ruling ordering the Floyd, Virginia-based bank to reinstate him. Last fall a U.S. district judge decided not to enforce the ruling.

Cardinal did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

Welch claims he was fired from Cardinal after he raised questions about the bank’s accounting policies and internal controls, and subsequently refused to certify its financial results. The bank argued that Welch was suspended and later discharged solely because he refused to meet with Cardinal attorney Douglas Densmore, of law firm Flippin Densmore, and Michael Larrowe, an accountant whose firm was Cardinal’s external auditor, without a personal attorney.

[1] CFO.com: Five Years Out of Work