California Supreme Court Expands Employee Whistleblower Protections

Posted on June 5, 2023June 5, 2023 by WhistleBlowerStaff

Suppose you are an employee who has made a whistleblower complaint to your employer. In that case, you should know that you are protected under the whistleblower statute (California Labor Code § 1102.5(b)) even if your employer already knew about the subject of your complaint. This means that employers are not allowed to retaliate against employees who make whistleblower complaints, regardless of whether they had prior knowledge of the alleged violation. Therefore, it’s essential to know your ri...

$818,500 Owed to Inspector Fired for Reporting Sewage in Drinking Water

Posted on May 1, 2023May 11, 2023 by WhistleBlowerStaff

Reclaimed water containing sewage sicken people and animals in Delray Beach Florida.

Instead of promoting the experienced inspector who detected why the city’s drinking water was sickening people and pets, the city of Delray Beach harassed her and fired her, an OSHA investigation found. Last week, 15 months after marching Christine Ferrigan out of her office in front of co-workers, Delray Beach ratified a settlement to a whistleblower lawsuit that will pay Ferrigan $818,500. That’s on top of the $1 million in civil money penalties Delray paid the Florida Department of Health-P...

Whistleblower Fired for Exposing Water Quality Issues

Posted on July 28, 2022July 28, 2022 by WhistleBlowerStaff

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — A former city of Delray Beach wastewater inspector claims in a new lawsuit that she was fired for exposing water quality issues. She already filed a complaint with the Department of Labor, and now she’s suing the city in federal court. The 29-page lawsuit claims the city of Delray Beach retaliated against Christine Ferrigan and violated her Constitutional right to free speech and the state’s Whistleblower Act. The suit names the city, city manager, and utili...

$160M Whistleblower Settlement with Mail-order Diabetic Testing Company

Posted on August 3, 2021August 3, 2021 by WhistleBlowerStaff

"Free" glucometers, waived co-pays and claims made for dead patients. An Antioch call center whistleblower alerted the U.S. government to a bundle of Medicare false claim schemes in a suit that led this week to the largest settlement in Middle Tennessee history. It did not feel right. It was too hard of a sell, too much beat into our heads about the limited things we could or couldn't do. It just didn't feel right. So I did a little bit of reading. Greg Goodman, 59, knew something was off wh...

Health Management Whistleblower Wins Nearly $1 Million in Fees

Posted on February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 by WhistleBlowerStaff

False Claims Act whistleblower Bradley Nurkin is entitled to $959,713 in attorneys’ fees and expenses for his role in bringing about a $260 million settlement with Health Management Associates LLC for federal healthcare fraud in September 2018, a Florida federal court said. Nurkin received $15 million under the settlement involving allegations that Health Management paid kickbacks for doctor referrals and billed healthcare programs for inpatient services that should have been billed as o...

SEC Rewards $6 Million to Joint Whistleblowers

Posted on December 1, 2020December 1, 2020 by WhistleBlowerStaff

Washington D.C., Dec. 1, 2020 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of over $6 million to joint whistleblowers whose information and assistance led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions. The whistleblowers’ substantial assistance, provided to the SEC and another government agency, included submitting documents, participating in interviews, and identifying key individuals involved in the misconduct. “The whistleblowers’ information led to multipl...

Whistleblower awarded $114,000,000

Posted on October 27, 2020October 27, 2020 by WhistleBlowerStaff

Washington D.C., Oct. 22, 2020 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of over $114 million to a whistleblower whose information and assistance led to the successful enforcement of SEC and related actions. The $114 million award consists of an approximately $52 million award in connection with the SEC case and an approximately $62 million award arising out of the related actions by another agency. The combined $114 million reward marks the highest awa...

Guaranteed Rate Pays $15 Million to Resolve Allegations It Knowingly Caused False Claims to Government Mortgage Loan Programs

Posted on April 30, 2020April 30, 2020 by WhistleBlowerStaff

Guaranteed Rate Inc. has agreed to pay the United States $15.06 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) by knowingly violating material program requirements when it originated and underwrote mortgages insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department o...

NASA Contractor Agrees To Pay $375,000 To Settle False Claims Act Liability

Posted on January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 by WhistleBlowerStaff

Orlando, FL – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez announces today that United Paradyne Corporation has agreed to pay the United States $375,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting claims to NASA for assembling and cleaning rocket launch systems that it had failed to perform. The settlement relates to United Paradyne’s agreement to provide NASA with certain ground support equipment designed to support NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS...

$8.5 Million Recovery from Moody’s

Posted on January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 by WhistleBlowerStaff

Moody’s has reached a settlement with New York-based law firm Kirby McInerney after it was accused of underpaying New York State and New York City business taxes between 2002 and 2014. Moody’s is alleged to have mischaracterised its income as premiums to its captive, Moody’s Assurance Company (MAC). Kirby McInerney secured an $8.5 million recovery in the case, after a whistleblower who was formerly employed by Moody’s sounded the alarm in 2018. The settlement is unusual in tha...