Whistleblower Law Blog

TweetIn 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 [...]

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TweetThis 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 [...]

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TweetIn 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 [...]

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TweetOn 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 [...]

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TweetIn 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 [...]

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TweetDOJ 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 [...]

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TweetIn Thomas v. City of Blanchard, the Tenth Circuit held that the district court erred in concluding that Thomas’s speech was outside the scope of First Amendment protections under Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006).  Thomas, a former building code inspector for the City of Blanchard, alleged that he was terminated for blowing the [...]

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TweetThe Office of Special Counsel (OSC) announced yesterday the settlement of a whistleblower claim brought by a former Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) against the former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota in which the AUSA will receive back pay, compensatory damages, and a cleared record.  In 2007, the AUSA blew the whistle on the U.S. Attorney failing [...]

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TweetThe Department of Labor (DOL) held that employers are prohibited from retaliating against immigrant whistleblowers under the employee protection clause of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).  The DOL ordered the Fargo Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center to reinstate a doctor and pay him back pay and benefits for violating the employee protection provisions of the [...]

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TweetIn a recent report titled, “Breaking the Sound Barrier:  Experiences of Air Marshals Confirm Need for Reform at the OSC,” the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) documents the need for a major overhaul of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).  In addition, the report provides very insightful recommendations for reforming the OSC, including:  Increasing the budget [...]

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TweetDave Scher, a Principal of The Employment Law Group® law firm is quoted in an article titled “Teacher says she was harassed, fired for exposing unethical behavior.”  In the article, Warwick Beacon reports about Mary Katherine O’Neill’s whistleblower retaliation suit against the Warwick School District (“School District”), where the former music teacher alleged that she [...]

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