Whistleblower Law Blog

Tweet On December 16, 2011, the United States Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board issued important decision for whistleblowers and their advocates to end a year of landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) decisions by the ARB, including: Vannoy v. Celanese, ARB No. 09-118, ALJ No. 2008-SOX-064 (ARB September 28, 2011) (holding that whistleblower disclosures [...]

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TweetKV Pharmaceutical (KV), the parent company for Ethex Corporation (Ethex), this month agreed to pay $17 million to settle claims that Ethex of violated the False Claims Act when it allegedly reported false information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to the complaint filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Ethex [...]

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TweetLast week, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sued retail food store chain Whole Foods Market for terminating marketing specialist Bridget Hobart in November 2009 because she had reported health concerns to OSHA after a sewer line ruptured in the Whole Foods store in Miami Beach.  The lawsuit follows an OSHA [...]

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TweetThe U.S Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is suing RockTenn Corporation, a consumer packaging manufacturer based in Norcross, Georgia for allegedly violating whistleblower protection laws at its Fernandina Beach plant.  The lawsuit alleges that an employee at the plant had repeatedly raised serious and credible safety concerns with managers, and that [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) awarded $99,000 to Gy Bennar, a former Head Greens Keeper at an Oklahoma golf course, for blowing the whistle on illegal wastewater treatment practices. Southwestern Oklahoma Development Authority (“SWODA”) managed the public golf course. Over the course of four years, Bennar allegedly witnessed SWODA using water from [...]

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Tweet The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced in a press release significant improvements to its Whistleblower Protection Program.   OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels explained: The ability of workers to speak out and exercise their legal rights without fear of retaliation is crucial to many of the legal protections and [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) should be commended for requesting an additional $6 million in funding for its whistleblower programs, which would allow them to hire an additional 45 full-time employees. The DOL enforces 21 federal statutes enacted by Congress to protect employees who report illegal or unsafe activity from being retaliated against by [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered CMM Realty, Inc., a real estate management company located in Columbia, South Carolina, to reinstate an employee and award him backpay with interest.  The company had fired the employee following his complaints about the asbestos at the condominium where he worked – a [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Inspector General (IG) issued a report regarding OSHA’s Whistleblower Program concluding that: Only 2% of whistleblower complaints were found to have merit by OSHA; and Approximately 80% of OSHA investigations did not satisfy one or more of eight elements from the Whistleblower Investigations Manual that are essential [...]

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TweetThe Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported to Congress its findings on the OSHA whistleblower program in its report titled “Whistleblower Protection: Sustained Management Attention Needed to Address Long-standing Program Weaknesses.”  The GAO concludes that OSHA has neglected its whistleblower program and has failed to implement GAO’s prior recommendations.  Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Patty Murray [...]

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TweetOSHA announced its new interim final rules for filing whistleblower complaints and invited the public to submit comments.  In a news release, OSHA stated: “When workers believe their employers are violating certain laws or government regulations, they have the right to file a complaint and should not fear retaliation. Silenced workers are not safe workers,” [...]

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TweetRecognizing that robust whistleblower protection is critical to preventing another financial crisis, Congress included in the Dodd-Frank financial services reform bill (H.R. 4173) numerous provisions designed to encourage whistleblowing and to provide robust protection from retaliation.  These provisions create monetary awards for whistleblowers who provide original information to the SEC or CFTC, strengthen the whistleblower [...]

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TweetOn June 29, 2010, a discussion draft of new federal legislation to increase mine safety was released.  The legislation, introduced by Senators Harkin, Murray, and Rockefeller is intended to “improve compliance with mine and occupational safety and health laws, empower workers to raise safety concerns, prevent future mine and other workplace tragedies, [and] establish rights [...]

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TweetOn May 20, 2010, OSHA ordered CSX Transportation, Inc. to rescind disciplinary actions and pay a whistleblower $5,000 in punitive damages.  According to OSHA, CSX violated the Federal Rail Safety Act when it disciplined the employee for repeatedly reporting safety concerns to management. The employment attorneys at The Employment Law Group® law firm have experience [...]

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TweetOn May 5, 2010, OSHA ordered Worldwide Jet Charter LLC to reinstate a pilot discharged for reporting alleged violations of FAA regulations. The order requires the employer reimburse the pilot for lost wages and pay compensatory damages of more than $21,000 and attorney’s fees of $24,610.  Under the Wendell H. Ford aviation Investment and Reform [...]

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TweetThe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 (H.R. 3590) that the House approved on March 21, 2010, creates new whistleblower protections for health care workers and strengthens the coverage of the False Claims Act.  The following is a summary of these provisions and the text of the relevant sections is available here. Section [...]

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TweetOn March 11, 2010, Administrative Law Judge Rae issued an order holding that an agreement which provides a joint employer with the ability to accept or cancel the assignment of a leased employee may be sufficient to establish liability under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA).  In Myers v. AMS Staff Leasing, the respondent contracted [...]

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TweetOn March 15, 2010, Administrative Law Judge Daniel Leland awarded Cynthia Ferguson over $151,000 including $75,000 in punitive damages, holding that she was terminated in retaliation for refusing to drive in hazardous conditions.  On a cross country trip, Ferguson encountered extremely inclement weather approaching Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Ferguson observed a truck [...]

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TweetOn March 11, 2010, The Pump Handle, a blog focused on public health and environmental issues, quoted The Employment Law Group® law firm Principal Jason Zuckerman in a blog post entitled “Wherever I look, whistleblower issues abound.”  The post discusses the urgency of reforming OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program and cites Mr. Zuckerman’s comments at a [...]

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TweetIn an article titled, “Labor Issues Loom Large,” Human Resource Executive Online reports on the potential impact of President Obama’s 2011 budget on the enforcement of employment laws.  The article discusses the potential impact of Congress providing OSHA with additional funding for investigations and enforcement. While employment practitioners speculate that increased OSHA enforcement will have [...]

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TweetA report released by the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) reveals that the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) lacks adequate resources for processing whistleblower complaints.  As a result, many whistleblower complaints are not investigated, while others fail to be recorded in OSHA’s database.  According to GAO auditors, nearly half of the whistleblower [...]

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