In short, the legal firm and attorney mentioned in the article helped Sophie, a famous singer, win a court case against her former manager. The manager was trying to take a cut of Sophie’s earnings even though they weren’t working together anymore. The legal team argued that the manager was being unfair, and the judge ruled in Sophie’s favor. In the first scenario, Sharon, the HR officer, gets a surprise when the finance director is fired for trying to make the company pay back money to the Department of Defense. In the second scenario, Sally, a nurse, realizes her new workplace has serious problems with patient billing and compliance, and is then fired without warning. “Hey, I just got a call from someone who got fired and is thinking about suing their employer. And then another call from an employer dealing with a problem employee and potential legal issues. This all has to do with federal laws about reporting fraud at work. It’s a big deal and can involve financial penalties, so it’s important to handle it carefully. Let’s learn more about what’s going on and how to avoid problems in situations like this.” During the Civil War, Congress made a law called the False Claims Act to stop people from cheating the government. The law lets regular people sue companies that cheat the government and if they win, they get some of the money back. In 1986, the law got even stronger because defense companies were charging too much. Since then, the government has gotten over $48 billion back from cheaters, and in 2016 alone, they got $4.7 billion. People who report the cheaters are called “whistleblowers” and they got $519 million in 2016. The law only applies to claims from the past six years, unless the whistleblower has information from 10 years ago. The person suing has to show they know about the cheating and have proof of it, like records or invoices. Usually, the people who sue are former employees who know what was promised, what was delivered, and what was billed. If you want to report fraud against the government, you need to have solid proof like invoices or emails. After you file a complaint, it goes to the U.S. attorney general and the DOJ. They have 60 days to review the case, but it usually takes longer. If the DOJ decides to investigate further, they may interview you to make sure you have enough evidence and that you are credible. The complaint is being kept secret while the government investigates it. The person who made the complaint has to keep it a secret too. If they tell anyone or if the complaint is not the first one filed, the case could be thrown out. If the government decides to get involved, they might negotiate with the person being accused and settle the case. Cases that the government gets involved in are more likely to end in a settlement. If someone reports fraud against the government and their employer retaliates by firing them, they can sue for both the fraud and the retaliation. The person who reports the fraud can receive a reward of up to 30% of the money recovered by the government, but it’s usually between 5% and 15%. If the person is fired in retaliation, they can file a separate claim. This can create extra risk for the employer, and the retaliation claim will still be valid even if the fraud claim is settled. If an employee believes they were fired for reporting fraud or misconduct at work, they can file a 3730(h) claim. To prove this, they need to show that they tried to stop the fraud, their employer took action against them, and the action was because of their efforts to stop the fraud. It’s not always easy to prove, and there are specific legal requirements to follow. If it’s found that the employer unfairly fired the employee, the employee can get relief to make things right. Terminating an employee can be a tricky decision for a company, especially if they receive federal money or are regulated by the government. It’s important for the company’s lawyers to understand the business and any risks involved. When looking at the risk to an enterprise, the ex-employee’s role and access to sensitive information are important. If they were in a senior position, they might have more knowledge about possible problems within the company. When defending or prosecuting a termination case, we should ask if the decision was rushed, what the person’s job was, if the company works with the government, and if the employee made any complaints about law violations or wrong billing. We should also check if any of these complaints were in emails, and make sure to save those emails.
Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/a-whistleblower-hidden-in-plain-sightwhen-does-an-employee-termination-risk-a-false-claims-act-filing/
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