By Jonathan DeSantis In 2015, Vermont enacted its own version of the federal False Claims Act.[1] Generally speaking, the Vermont False Claims Act is very similar to the Federal False Claims Act except that the Vermont law prohibits fraud upon the state government, while the federal law prohibits fraud upon the federal government. What [...]
By Susan Schneider Thomas Like many states, Florida generally has an “at-will” employment policy, meaning that employees can be fired at any time for any reason that doesn’t violate a statutory or constitutional protection. For whistleblowers, that statutory protection comes from the Florida Whistleblower’s Act, which protects public employees, or the Florida Private Sector [...]
(Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 71-5-181 to 185) By Russell Paul The Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act (“Tennessee Medicaid FCA”) allows whistleblowers to sue in the name of the State of Tennessee where a wrongdoer engages in conduct that defrauds the state or local government of its healthcare dollars. This statute is designed to address Medicaid fraud. The Tennessee Medicaid FCA [...]
By Susan Schneider Thomas If you observe actions that you believe are illegal and cheating the government what should you do? What are the pros or cons of deciding to report that misconduct to someone – possibly someone within your company, who could fix things? Or reporting to a regulatory agency that your business [...]
By Russell Paul The New Hampshire False Claims Act (“New Hampshire FCA”) was first enacted in 2004. It authorizes whistleblowers with knowledge of fraudulent efforts by persons or businesses to obtain New Hampshire state funds or to avoid an obligation to pay New Hampshire state funds to file suit on behalf of the state [...]
By Daniel Miller The Michigan Whistleblowers’ Protection Act (“WPA”), Mich. Comp. Laws § 15.361-369 (2017), was enacted in 1980. The WPA protects employees, or agents acting on behalf of an employee, who report or are about to report violations of state, local, or federal law to any public body, from retaliation by their employers, [...]
By William Ellerbe The Nevada False Claims Act (“Nevada FCA”) mirrors the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) but operates at the state level. Enacted in 1999, the Nevada FCA penalizes people who defraud Nevada’s state or local governments. The Nevada FCA imposes civil liability on “[any] person who, with or without specific intent to defraud, [...]
By Susan Schneider Thomas Imagine the following scenario: You’ve observed some cheating at work that really troubles you. It seems that your supervisor is cheating the government by lying about testing that your company hasn’t really done on its products, even though testing is required under your government contract. Should you report this? Who [...]
By Daniel Miller The biggest concern most whistleblowers (aka“Relators”) raise is confidentiality. They want to the do the right thing, but they fear that doing the right thing could cost them their job or their career. These concerns are real. It is widely known that people or companies that defraud the government are capable [...]
By Susan Schneider Thomas The broadest whistleblower protection comes, appropriately enough, from a statute known as the Pennsylvania Whistleblowers Act. 43 P.S. §§1421 et seq. In pertinent part, the statute provides that: “No employer may discharge, threaten or otherwise discriminate or retaliate against an employee regarding the employee’s compensation, terms, conditions, location or privileges of [...]
