Monthly Archives: December 2015
A Brief Overview of the New Dodd-Frank CEO Pay Ratio Disclosure Rules
On August 5, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially approved what has been called the “CEO pay ratio disclosure rule” under the Dodd-Frank Act. This new rule will require the majority of publicly traded companies to openly disclose how much their CEOs make in relation to the median income of the company’s other employees. […]
New OSHA Directive to Help Resolve Whistleblower Complaints Early
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a number of new procedures and policies August 19, outlining how a new process will be established to resolve whistleblower disputes more efficiently. The goal is to get whistleblower complaints resolved early on and to spend less time in court with each action. This process is being […]
How Long Do Employers Have to Repay After a False Claims Act Violation?
According to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, anyone who receives an overpayment of Medicaid or Medicare funds report is required to pay back the amount of the overpayment within 60 days of when the problem was discovered and identified. The failure to repay is considered a violation of the False Claims […]
Texas Expands Handgun Rights Through 2016 and Beyond
The Texas legislature recently passed two bills related to handgun possession in the state. House Bill 910 makes it legal for people to carry handguns openly. Senate Bill 11 allows people who have handgun licenses to carry concealed handguns in some circumstances on college campuses across the Lone Star State. The following is a quick […]
Hanford Whistleblower Case Comes to $4.1 Million Settlement
A former employee at a nuclear weapons cleanup project run by Hanford recently came to a $4.1 million settlement in a lawsuit alleging the company retaliated against him for speaking up about questionable safety practices. The employee and plaintiff in the case was Walter Tamosaitis, who had been a contractor at the Hanford site in […]
Albuquerque Public Schools Whistleblower Speaks Out About Allegations
Don Moya, the chief financial officer of the Albuquerque (New Mexico) Public Schools, recently filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the school district, its superintendent (Luis Valentino) and the New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary (Hanna Skandera). The lawsuit includes multiple claims against the defendants, and Moya recently spoke publicly about a few of them. According […]
Whistleblower Accuses Medicare Advantage Organizations of Overbilling
A Texas whistleblower has filed a lawsuit against CenseoHealth LLC and various other Medicare Advantage organizations, claiming they have been regularly overcharging Medicare for the in-home care they provide to patients. The plaintiff is Becky Ramsey-Ledesma, a former coding manager for Censeo, and she has demanded her claim be presented in a jury trial. The […]
5th Circuit Court Revives a SOX Whistleblower Action
The Fifth Circuit Court recently revived Wallace v. Tesoro Corp, a Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower complaint that had previously been dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The Fifth Circuit found the plaintiff’s alleged belief that the company was in violation of certain Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules was not unreasonable. […]
Civil Servants: the Government’s First Line of Defense Against Corruption
Within the last five years, the federal government has introduced unprecedented levels of protection for whistleblowers and greater incentives for them to come forward in the form of record amounts of financial compensation. This is because the government has recognized that people who serve in government jobs on local levels are truly the nation’s first […]
