Author Archives: Steve Kardell
Texas Whistleblower Act Has Jurisdiction
A state employee sent an email to a superior declaring that if a particular contract were not honored, then the entire department would not be complying with federal regulation. After being fired, the employee sued under the Texas Whistleblower Act (TWA) and attached a copy of the email. The Texas Supreme Court dismissed the complaint […]
Whistleblowers Blow their Whistles While They Work
It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear. -Henry David Thoreau The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Pilgrim Pride Corp. reached a $50,000 settlement in a 2012 whistleblower case. The case began when a manager for water reclamation at Pilgrim Pride’s processing plant […]
2012: What a Year to Blow Your Whistle
Despite reports of a federal government crackdown on leaks and whistleblowers, a review of the amount of whistleblower settlements in 2012 will blow your mind. Across all business disciplines and governmental agencies, whistleblowing led to major settlements. Whistleblowing settlements across America Spanning the spectrum of American businesses, whistleblowers were awarded significant sums of money in […]
Life After Whistleblowing
When corporate executives, government employees, or simple truck drivers decide to report regulatory violations or illegal activity, they assume serious risks of loss of livelihood, alienation of friends and even physical safety. The significant financial award given to whistleblowers helps to soften the blow of a likely job loss. However, what rewards are there to […]
Whistleblowers Remain Unwelcome at the White House
I never gave anybody hell! I just told the truth and they thought it was hell. -Harry S. Truman In April 2013, Jonathan Landay, a reporter for McClatchy, the third-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, published a report that the Obama administration assassinated hundreds of lower-level Afghan and Pakistani militants in drone strikes. The […]
War on Whistleblowers Elicits International Attention
A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth. –Aesop Daniel Ellsburg, Karen Silkwood, and W. Mark Felt are usually glorified as brave whistleblowers who risked everything for the truth. In 2002, Time Magazine’s person of the year was The Whistleblowers — Colleen Rowley, Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper. The June 24, […]
Blowing the Whistle and Nobody Hears
When a person assumes the role of a whistleblower to stop the illegal and fraudulent activity of a corporation or governmental agency, it is understood that there may be harsh retaliatory acts taken by the violating organization. One reaction that the whistleblower does not expect is the deafening silence that many hear when they report […]
To Blow or Not to Blow — this is the Whistleblower’s Question
Cheryl D. Eckard was drug giant GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) quality manager. In 2002, she was sent to the company’s primary plant in Puerto Rico to fix problems cited by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Eckard quickly recognized that the company’s premier drug-making facility was a disaster. She recorded and reported to senior managers that […]
Has Eliminating Anonymous Complaints Taken the Air Out of Whistleblowers?
In September 2011, Texas enacted a law prohibiting anonymous complaints to the Texas Medical Board (TMB). Whether the new law has dissuaded people from filing complaints about medical professionals requires further examination. In 2011, the last year anonymous complaints were allowed, 8,182 complaints were filed with the TMB. In 2012, the first year after anonymous […]
Whistleblowing with The False Claims Act
The top 30 False Claims Act settlements of 2012 totaled $9,094,474,000. Initiated by whistleblowers, the top three settlements involved $3 billion from GlaxoSmithKline for illegal marketing of prescription drugs, $1.5 billion from Abbott Laboratories for off-label marketing of Depakote and $1 billion from Bank of America for mortgage and bank fraud. The Federal False Claims […]
