Category Archives: Employee Rights
Whistleblowers Could be the First Responders Against Fraud
To rise from error to truth is rare and beautiful. Victor Hugo We know who the first responders are. When a student opened fire at a Nevada middle school on Monday morning, October 21, 2013, teacher Michael Landsberry sacrificed his life to protect the children in the school. Teacher Victoria Soto hid her 16 […]
Whistleblowing the NCAA into Compliance
Every mind must make its choice between truth and repose. It cannot have both. Ralph Waldo Emerson Mike McQueary was living his dream. A Pennsylvania State College kid who quarterbacked the Penn State University Nittany Lions, McQuery had climbed the ranks from Coach Joe Paterno’s graduate assistant to Penn State’s recruiting coordinator. In 2011, McQueary […]
Whistleblower Suit Filed Against Texas Railroad Commission
Frederick Wright recently sued the Texas Railroad Commission for terminating his employment in violation of state whistleblower laws. If the suit is not settled, it could attract considerable attention in Texas. Wright was on the fast track Wright was a petroleum engineer who worked at the Bureau of Land Management and as an engineer in […]
The U.S. Whistleblower Laws You’ve Never Heard About
By now, you have probably heard about the False Claims Act, the Dodd-Frank Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Depending on your field, you may be aware of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Whistleblower Law, which gives rewards of 15 to 30 percent of the amount collected by the government to tipsters who give […]
Ag-gag v. Whistleblowing
On February 8, 2013, Amy Meyer went to the Dale Smith Meatpacking Company in Draper City, Utah to see where her meat comes from. She peeked through the barbed wire fence and saw a sick cow being treated like rubble. She pulled out her smartphone and began filming the scene. For her good intentions, Meyer […]
Whistleblowing in Afghanistan Allegedly Elicits Retaliatory Response
I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell. Harry S. Truman The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in September 2013 that Mike Elder proffered sufficient evidence to continue with his False Claims Act action against DRS Technologies, Inc. (DRS). Facts of […]
Transferring Confidential Data to IRS Earns SOX Protection for Whistleblower
Not everyone can see the truth, but he can be it. Franz Kafka The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL, in Vannoy v. Celanese Corporation, recently ruled in favor of a whistleblower who claimed retaliation after taking sensitive information from his employer and giving it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). While the decision indicates the […]
Retaliating Against a Nuclear Power Whistleblower
From the recent reports of retaliatory acts against whistleblowers, some wonder if the protections under the Dodd-Frank Act proscribing retribution against tipsters are known to companies and government offices. Regardless of whether a company committed fraud or other illegal acts, punishing employees who reported their suspicions is illegal. We will examine two whistleblowers who put […]
Adopt an Internal Whistleblower Policy
It is highly recommended for companies and organizations to implement a strong internal whistleblower policy. The primary reasons for a corporate whistleblower system are to protect the company and its chief executive officer and chief financial officer from criminal indictment and the ensuing penalties and to protect the shareholders from losses of their equity interests. […]
Big Payout Rings Bank of America Fraud Trial
Money, not morality, is the principle commerce of civilized nations. – Thomas Jefferson Edward O’Donnell, a former executive at Countrywide Financial, Inc., may collect up to $1.6 million under an almost forgotten 1980s law. O’Donnell filed a whistleblower suit against the Bank of America last year under the False Claims Act, which empowers whistleblowers to bring […]
