$1.4 Million Settlement from SandRidge Energy for Retaliating Against Internal Whistleblower

An oil-and-gas company that allegedly retaliated against an internal whistleblower and used illegal separation agreements agreed to pay the SEC a $1.4 million penalty. Oklahoma-based SandRidge Energy Inc. fired an employee who raised concerns inside the company about how it calculated its publicly reported oil-and-gas reserves. SandRidge then put language in the employee’s separation agreement that prohibited participating in any government investigation or disclosing information potenti...
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OSC Finds Retaliation against BIA Whistleblower

The Office of Special Counsel says it has confirmed a complaint of whistleblower retaliation in a case unusual in that the personnel actions at issue were ordered at a high agency level. While whistleblower reprisal complaints commonly arise from actions taken by the employees’ supervisors, in this case the supervisors not only did not advocate the personnel action but actively opposed it, the OSC said in its announcement. The case involved an employee who along with a coworker disclosed that ...
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Charge against ex-Iowa judge is retaliation, supporters say

Reporting fraud, crime, tax evasion protections.
IOWA CITY, Ia. — Authorities charged a former Iowa judge with insurance fraud days after she appeared in court to challenge her two-year-old firing over the same allegation — timing that her supporters call retaliation. Former Administrative Law Judge Susan Ackerman joined her union, AFSCME Iowa Council 61, in a Polk County courtroom on Dec. 16 as the union sought to overturn an error-riddled arbitration decision that upheld her termination. Four days later, Ackerman was told a warrant had bee...
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