Whistleblower Law Blog

The Harrisburg Patriot-News Commends Whistleblower Protection Amendments in Stimulus Bill

February 02, 2009

An editorial in today’s Harrisburg Patriot-News commends the Platts-Van Hollen amendment to the stimulus bill which strengthens federal whistleblower protections for employees who report government fraud, waste and abuse.  The editorial states:

One provision that should stay in stimulus bill is that protecting those who report waste, fraud

Monday, February 2, 2009 

There is much to grumble about in the 680-page stimulus package the House passed last week. The spirit of bipartisanship that President Obama tried to bring to the process appears to have been tossed aside by the House leadership, which ended up including numerous questionable projects in the bill and then limiting debate to a few hours before the vote on H.R. 1. One of the few parts of the stimulus legislation that is hard to argue with is an amendment to protect government “whistleblowers” who report fraud and waste. That amendment, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, a Republican who represents York and Cumberland counties, protects any disclosure regarding waste, fraud or abuse “without restriction as to time, place, form, motive, context or prior disclosure.” The amendment also protects whistleblowers within government contractors, which is one of the key groups causing contention in discussions about inappropriate conduct in the contracts stemming from the U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are countless examples of government excess and fraud, but one of the more recent and egregious examples came out this fall at the Department of the Interior — the agency that oversees our parks and much of our oil and gas reserves. About a dozen Interior staff members were found to have been accepting gifts, drugs and even sexual favors from energy companies bidding for Interior Department contracts. Would the Interior scandal have come out sooner had Platt’s whistleblower provision been in place? It’s difficult to say, but the House is sending a strong message by passing this amendment to foster an environment for reporting of improper behavior. In this new era of greater open access in the executive office, it’s time to enable rank and file career civil servants to be able to do their jobs and call out their superiors when fraud is at hand. We encourage Pennsylvania Sens. Casey and Specter to follow suit and ensure this amendment is part of the Senate stimulus package.  

House Strengthens Whistleblower Protections for Federal Employees

January 29, 2009

On January 28, 2009, the House passed the Platts-Van Hollen amendment to its economic stimulus bill, which will enhance whistleblower protections for federal employees who report on waste, fraud and abuse of federal funds.  The Platts-Van Hollen amendment which is substantially similar to H.R. 985, grants federal employees the right to a jury trial in whistleblower retaliation actions and extends whistleblower protections to federal scientists, national security whistleblowers, and transportation security officers.  In addition, the amendment eliminates the loopholes that the Federal Circuit has read into the Whistleblower Protection Act.

To learn more about the The Employment Law Group® law firm’s representation of federal employees under the Whistleblower Protection Act, click here.

The Employment Law Group® Law Firm Calls for Stronger Whistleblower Protections

January 28, 2009

The Employment Law Group® law firm joins the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and 262 other organizations petitioning Congress to strengthen federal whistleblower protections.  Yesterday, GAP and other public interest groups delivered a letter to President Barack Obama and legislators stressing the need “to restore a credible Whistleblower Protection Act.”  In the letter, the organizations also articulated how crucial it is to have comprehensive whistleblower protections that would: 

• Grant employees the right to a jury trial in federal court;
• Specifically protect federal scientists who report efforts to alter, misrepresent, or suppress federal research;
• Extend meaningful protections to FBI and intelligence agency whistleblowers;
• Strengthen protections for federal contractors, as strong as those provided to DoD contractors and grantees in last year’s defense authorization legislation;
• Extend meaningful protections to Transportation Security Officers (screeners);
• Neutralize the government’s use of the “state secrets” privilege;
• Bar the MSPB from ruling for an agency before whistleblowers have the opportunity to present evidence of retaliation;
• Provide whistleblowers the right to be made whole, including compensatory damages;
• Grant comparable due process rights to employees who blow the whistle in the course of a government investigation or who refuse to violate the law; and
• Remove the Federal Circuit’s monopoly on precedent-setting cases.  

To read more about The Employment Law Group® law firm’s representation of federal employees under the Whistleblower Protection Act, click here.

Spartan Motors Pays $1.7 Million for False Claims Act Violations

January 02, 2009

On December 29, 2008, the Justice Department announced that Spartan Motors and its subsidiary, Spartan Chassis have agreed to pay the United States $1.7 Million to resolve allegations that it paid kickbacks to an employee of Force Protection Inc.  In the complaint, the United States alleged that Spartan paid the Force Protection employee approximately $100,000 in exchange for Spartan to receive a subcontract to provide chassis for armored vehicles for the U.S. Military.

The case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the National Procurement Fraud Initiative.  In October 2006, the Deputy Attorney General announced the formation of a National Procurement Fraud Task Force designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention, and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in government contracting activity for national security and other government programs.  For more information about the False Claims Act, click here.

Virginia Supreme Court Applies Favorable Causation Standard to Wrongful Discharge Claims

December 23, 2008

In a common law wrongful discharge action in which plaintiffs allege that they were terminated for disclosing their supervisor’s unprovoked attacks on Iraqui civilians, the Virginia Supreme Court held that the trial judge erred in instructing the jury that the plaintiff must prove that their former employer’s illegal motive for terminating them was the sole cause of the termination decision.  Instead, plaintiffs can prevail by demonstrating by a preponderance of the evidence that the termination occurred because of factors that violate Virginia’s public policy. 

The Order in Schmidt, et al. v. Triple Canopy, Inc., No. 072556, (Va., December 12, 2008) is available here.  For information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Wrongful Termination practice, click here.

Federal News Radio Interviews The Employment Law Group® Law Firm on Whistleblower Protections for Federal Employees

December 22, 2008

This morning, Principal Scott Oswald of The Employment Law Group® law firm was interviewed by Federal News Radio about federal whistleblower protections.  In the interview, Mr. Oswald provided insight on whistleblower protections for federal employees and offered recommendations to strengthen the Whistleblower Protection Act.  For more information about The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Whistleblower Protection Act practice, click here. 

The Employment Law Group® Law Firm Appeals District Court Decision Disregarding the Plain Meaning of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

December 22, 2008

In an appeal to the Fourth Circuit, The Employment Law Group® law firm argues that the district court erred in Stone v. Instrumentation Laboratory Spa, by improperly delegating its de novo review to the Department of Labor (“DOL”) in violation of the plain meaning and intent of the whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”).  The district court ignored the plain and unambiguous language of the relevant SOX provisions when it remanded the case to the Administrative Review Board for a final decision on Stone’s SOX complaint without producing new or independent factual findings.  Congress expressly confers a right to a de novo action in district court if DOL has not issued a final decision within 180 days of filing the complaint.   If permitted to stand, the district court’s flawed interpretation of Section 1514A will undermine the clear intent of Congress and will prevent SOX whistleblowers from bringing their cases in federal court.

The Employment Law Group® Law Firm Defeats Motion to Dismiss in D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act Case

December 22, 2008

On December 16, 2008, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied defendant’s motion to dismiss in Mr. Stephen Amos’s whistleblower retaliation claim against the District of Columbia under the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act.  In his complaint, Mr. Amos, the former Chief of Staff for the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, alleges, among other things, that the District of Columbia terminated his employment because he disclosed fraudulent contracting practices.  D.C. asserted that Mr. Amos’s disclosures are not protected under the D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act because given the broad discretion and available waivers in the contracting regulations, it was not reasonable for Mr. Amos to believe that anything he reported was illegal.  Judge Collyer rejected defendant’s argument, holding that Mr. Amos’ complaint alleges that he complained about more than noncompliance with contracting rules; “he complained about fraud, which is illegal under the applicable contracting regulations” and “because Mr. Amos had a reasonable basis to believe that fraud was illegal, his disclosures were ‘protected disclosure[s]” within the meaning of the WPA.’”  A copy of the opinion is available here, and information about The Employment Law Group® law firm’s D.C. Whistleblower Protection Act practice is available here.

Obama Administration Favors Stronger Whistleblower Protections for Federal Employees

December 12, 2008

In a recent article titled, “Whistleblowers May Have a Friend in the Oval Office,” the Washington Post reports that President-elect Obama and his advisers favor more robust whistleblower protections for federal employees.  According to the article, Obama has an ongoing history of supporting whistleblowers.  As an attorney, Obama represented Janet Chandler in her qui tam case against Cook County Hospital.  As a senator and presidential candidate, Obama endorsed legislation that would strengthen current whistleblower protections for federal employees.  According to the article, there is a good chance that legislation strengthening whistleblower protections for federal employees will pass in the near future.  Recently, The Employment Law Group® law firm obtained a landmark decision on the meaning of reasonable belief under the Whistleblower Protection Act in Drake v. Agency for International Development, where the Federal Circuit held that a whistleblower does not need to prove that he disclosed an actual violation of the law, but instead that he had a reasonable belief that there was a violation of a law, rule or regulation.  For more information on the Whistleblower Protection Act and our firm’s Whistleblower Practice, click here.

Whistleblower Receives $720,000 Award in Settlement of False Claims Act Action

December 11, 2008

DOJ announced on December 8, 2008, that an employee of a contractor providing U.S. maintenance services in Iraq received $720,000 in a settlement of a qui tam suit he filed on behalf of the U.S. government.  The suit alleged that the company submitted false and inflated claims of hours worked to the Army.  The employee filed the qui tam claim under the False Claims Act, which gives private citizens the right to share in any recovery.

For information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Whistleblower Practice, click here.  The DOJ press release is available here.