Tag Archives: whistleblower
Sarbanes-Oxley Case Clears Up Issues of Pleading Knowledge of Protected Whistleblowing
The recent decision in the Pennsylvania case of Westawski v. Merck & Co, Inc. clarified a rule stating whenever someone files a whistleblower complaint about a Sarbanes-Oxley violation against a corporation and he or she “alleges facts that [he or she] engaged in protected activity” directly to oversight committees, supervisors or the corporation, then that […]
Whistleblower Compliance Officer Receives $1.4 Million Award from SEC
On April 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an award of between $1.4 million and $1.6 million given to a compliance officer who alerted authorities to wrongdoing within a large company. Because of confidentiality laws, the SEC was not able to reveal the name of either the whistleblower or the business. However, […]
New Jersey Transit Pays $700,000 in Whistleblower Suit Settlement
New Jersey Transit paid nearly $700,000 to settle a federal whistleblower complaint filed by one of its conductors. The conductor claimed he was the victim of retaliation from the agency after he saw a worker electrocuted and decided to take the next day off work. The worker suffered fatal burns in the accident, which reportedly […]
Senate Approves Whistleblower Bill for the Auto Industry
The U.S. Senate passed the first-ever piece of whistleblower legislation specific to automotive safety April 28. The proposed measure provides incentives to whistleblowers within the auto industry to come forward about known safety issues. It was developed in the wake of the controversies surrounding Takata air bags and General Motors ignition switches over the last […]
EPA Criticized for Persecution of 9/11 Dust Whistleblower
A judge from the U.S. Department of Labor rebuked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its concealment of evidence in a case from several years ago against a senior chemist who was wrongfully terminated. The chemist, Cate Jenkins, had worked as an environmental scientist with the agency for 31 years before she lost her job […]
Proposed Legislation Could Punish Those Who Retaliate Against VA Whistleblowers
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been the subject of controversy for much of the past year after a variety of whistleblowers exposed a nationwide problem of extremely long wait times for veterans needing treatment and benefits. Unfortunately, many of those VA whistleblowers suffered retaliation by management after exposing the problems within the agency. […]
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Fined for Whistleblower Harassment
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has had plenty of public troubles lately, the most recent of which has resulted in a fine of more than $50,000 after the agency was found guilty of harassing a whistleblower. The fine has its roots in an incident from August 2012. At that time, inspectors from the state […]
Whistleblower Files Lawsuit Against JC Penney
A former part-time employee of department store JC Penney filed a retaliation claim, saying they were fired after alerting authorities that the retailer was overcharging its customers. This is just the most recent bad news for JC Penney, whose stock fell sharply after it announced its 2014 profit numbers and several key officers left the […]
Infosys Whistleblower Reveals H-1B Workers Have Minimal Skills
A whistleblower that works for Indian tech corporation Infosys claims that H-1B workers that replace Americans in their positions have little to no business knowledge and very few relevant skills to their positions. The whistleblower, in turn, has asked legislators not to increase the number of work visas that have allowed these workers to take […]
Whistleblower Exposes Wrongdoing at Arizona Corporation Commission
One employee of the Arizona Corporation Commission claims to have uncovered wrongdoing within the agency, and that he was offered a promotion to keep silent about it. But now various allegations against former commissioner Gary Pierce, who just retired in December, have been made public, thanks to a seven-page letter written by that employee to […]
