Author Archives: Steve Kardell
Walmart Must Pay $31 Million in Whistleblower Retaliation Case
A New Hampshire federal jury recently hit Walmart with penalties upwards of $31 million for incidents of gender bias and illegal retaliation against a former pharmacist for the company who reported a variety of safety concerns involving her coworkers. According to the lawsuit, Walmart negligently supervised and trained its pharmacy staff at its Seabrook, New […]
OSHA Sides with Truck Driver in Whistleblower Case in New York
A truck driver has received a $45,000 award after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) determined the company that employed him violated a variety of whistleblower laws. The man began driving for Brindi Trailer Sales and Services of Meridale in 2011. Not long after he started working for the company, […]
CFTC Awards Whistleblower with Record $10 Million
On April 4, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) awarded a whistleblower with more than $10 million. This is just the third whistleblower award the CFTC has approved since its whistleblower program was enacted in 2011, and it is by far the largest amount awarded to date. Before this, the biggest award that had been […]
Origin Energy Employees Volunteer as Witnesses in Whistleblower Case
A former employee of Origin Energy has filed a whistleblower claim against the Australian company, alleging it organized a cover-up of some extremely serious compliance failures at many of its gas and oilfields. Now, at least 20 other current and former employees of the energy giant have come forward and offered to become witnesses in […]
CFTC Launches New Website for Whistleblower Program
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently launched a brand-new website for the agency’s whistleblower program at www.whistleblower.gov. The new website offers a better interface for informing the general public on the whistleblower program and gives users the ability to submit leads about possible violations of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA). People may also […]
MetroHealth Whistleblower Claims to Have Been Victim of Retaliation
The director of an internal audit at MetroHealth in Ohio recently claimed two of the organization’s vice presidents and one employee’s relative had received free Botox injections and various other services from the Pepper Pike Dermatology Clinic. The information was revealed in a lawsuit filed in December in Cuyahoga County. The findings of the report […]
SEC Hands Out $700,000 Award to Whistleblower
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has awarded a whistleblower with more than $700,000 after the whistleblower’s reports to the agency resulted in a successful enforcement action. Three other whistleblowers were denied awards, according to the SEC’s case order. This large sum was just the latest awarded handed out under the SEC’s whistleblower program, which […]
SEC Aims to Ensure Whistleblowers are Uninhibited
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has done a lot to increase the protections afforded to whistleblowers in the last several years. In 2015, the agency took several steps to further ensure whistleblowers are not prevented from coming forward and reporting incidents of wrongdoing within their organizations. Since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act of […]
How Businesses Can Strengthen Compliance, Support Whistleblowers
It’s natural for employers to feel as if they are in a tough spot when it comes to protecting confidentiality related to whistleblower claims, as these actions inherently come from an employee’s ability to report wrongdoing to enforcement agencies. However, there are steps companies can take to strengthen compliance and support would-be whistleblowers. The Whistleblower […]
Bank of America Subsidiary Pays $36 Million Settlement in Overtime Lawsuit
Lansafe Appraisal Services Inc., an appraisal subsidiary of Bank of America, recently agreed to pay a $36 million settlement in a class action lawsuit in which the company was accused of wrongfully classifying residential real estate appraisers as being exempt from overtime pay. There were 365 members of the plaintiff class, each of whom will […]
