Monthly Archives: August 2014
LinkedIn Pays Nearly $6 Million After US Labor Department Investigation
After being investigated by the US Labor Department for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, LinkedIn has been forced to pay out nearly $6 million in damages and unpaid overtime to 359 employees. The investigation revealed violations of the overtime and record-keeping parts of the Fair Labor Standards Act, affecting employees in California, Illinois, […]
Are More SEC Protections on the Way for Whistleblowers?
A pro-whistleblower coalition comprising organizations including the Government Accountability Project, the Project on Government Oversight and more is in the news for pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to improve its protections for employees that alert authorities to potential wrongdoing in their workplace. Members of the coalition are concerned about the clarity of the […]
Whistleblower Receives More Than $17 Million in Omnicare Case
A decision has been made in the case against Omnicare, Inc. that will net a former Omnicare pharmacist more than $17.2 million in the ensuing settlement. The settlement with the Department of Justice orders Omnicare, Inc. to pay more than $124 million after having allegedly violated the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). Omnicare was accused of luring […]
SCOTUS Affirms Right to Blow Your Whistle in Public Sector
If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence. — Louis Brandeis, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court There has long been tension in the public sector regarding an employee’s duties as […]
A Brief History of the False Claims Act
Worse than traitors in arms are men who pretend loyalty to the flag, feast and fatten on the misfortunes of the nation while patriotic blood is crimsoning the plains of the South and their countrymen are moldering in the dust. — Abraham Lincoln, regarding the False Claims Act The False Claims Act (FCA) is one […]
Supreme Court to Take Up Kellogg Brown & Root Whistleblower Case
It’s impossible to understate the importance of strict adherence to procedure when initiating a qui tam action under the False Claims Act. Unfortunately under our legal system, otherwise meritorious claims can often be defeated merely because the proponent waited too long to act or otherwise failed to follow the rules. One such case recently reached […]
Illinois Municipality Concludes Probe on Hostile Work Environment
Blowing the whistle does not always need to involve fraud and malfeasance. Sometimes a culture of apathy allows a hostile work environment to develop that can only be addressed with outside intervention. Employees and managers who constantly witness pervasive discrimination and harassment in their workplaces often feel compelled to act, even if they are not […]
Public Sector Secrecy Rules Could Violate Federal Whistleblower Laws
Whistleblower laws are intended to discourage corruption by granting legal protection and sometimes even financial incentives to employees who report corruption and other violations. However, these laws can sometimes be at odds with the security requirements of certain sensitive facilities or the proprietary rights of contractors. While these concerns are sometimes understandable, there is a […]
