Whistleblower Law Blog

On August 13, 2010, The Employment Law Group® filed an amicus curiae brief in Johnson v. Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., on behalf of the Government Accountability Project, National Employment Lawyers Association, and National Whistleblowers Center arguing that Section 929A of the Dodd-Frank Act clarifies and confirms existing law on the scope of coverage under SOX, [...]

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Judge Anderson of the Eastern District of Virginia ordered Nelnet, Sallie Mae, and other defendants in a qui tam whistleblower action to explore potential resolution of Jon Oberg’s claim, which we blogged about here.   One of the defendants, Brazos Higher Education Service Corp., settled the action last week.  The plaintiff is represented by Wiley Rein [...]

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WTOP reports that Nebraska-based Nelnet, Sallie Mae, and several other student loan companies are exploring a potential resolution of a qui tam whistleblower lawsuit brought by TELG client Jon Oberg accusing them of defrauding the federal government.  Jon Oberg, a former Department of Education researcher, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the federal government under [...]

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Justice Procaccini commended the defendant’s counsel and The Employment Law Group® law firm’s attorneys R. Scott Oswald and David Scher for their excellent trial work. With the completion of the O’Neill v. Warwick trial marking Procaccini’s ninth anniversary on the bench, the Warwick Beacon reported that: Procaccini told the court that he loves his work [...]

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A jury for the Superior Court of Kent County in Rhode Island found Warwick Public School District not liable under the Rhode Island Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) for the wrongful termination of Mary Katherine O’Neill, a client of The Employment Law Group®.  School administrators fired Ms. O’Neill following an interview she gave to a local [...]

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On September 21, 2010, Jason Zuckerman, a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm will speak at the ALI-ABA Fall 2010 seminar on the whistleblower provisions of the recently enacted Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which we blogged about here.  Zuckerman will discuss Sections 1057, 922 and 748 of the Dodd-Frank [...]

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On July 22, 2010, the Warwick Beacon reported on the O’Neill v. Warwick Public School District case in which The Employment Law Group® client, Mary Katherine O’Neill, testified that she was ordered by school administrators to change a top student’s grade.  O’Neill, a music teacher at Toll Gate High School for over 30 years, testified [...]

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The Providence Journal provided another update on the O’Neill v. Warwick Public School District case which we previously blogged about here.  The Employment Law Group® client, Mary Katherine O’Neill, was cross-examined on Thursday where she continually maintained that she was wrongfully terminated for refusing to lower a top student’s grade. The plaintiff is represented by [...]

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Principal Jason Zuckerman of The Employment Law Group® law firm is quoted in an article in BNA’s Daily Labor Report titled “Attorneys Agree Financial Overhaul Bill Has Vigorous Whistleblower Protections” about the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  The Dodd-Frank Act which we blogged about here, contains [...]

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The Providence Journal provided an update on the O’Neill v. Warwick Public School District case which we previously blogged about here.  The Employment Law Group® client, Mary Katherine O’Neill, testified on Monday that she was ordered to lower a student’s grade, but refused to do so and was subsequently fired. The plaintiff is represented by [...]

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The Employment Law Group® Law Firm principals Scott Oswald and Jason Zuckerman published an article in Law360 titled “Whistleblower Provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.”  The article discusses the whistleblower provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.  The article is available here. For more information about The Employment Law Group® [...]

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The Employment Law Group® law firm is quoted in the lead story in The National Law Journal titled “Financial Reform Includes New Whistleblower Program.”  The article reports on the whistleblower protection provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which we blogged about here.  The article states in part: However, employment and whistleblower [...]

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On July 15, 2010, the Providence Journal reported on the latest news from O’Neill v. Warwick Public School District which we previously blogged about here.  The plaintiff, Mary Katherine O’Neill, taught music at Toll Gate High School in Warwick, Rhode Island for nearly 30 years.  According to the complaint, a school counselor ordered O’Neill to [...]

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On June 18, 2010, the Washington Business Journal wrote an article discussing the False Claims Act retaliation lawsuit filed by Robert Fagg against his former employer SmithGroup.  The article is titled “Fired SmithGroup engineer files whistle-blower suit.”  Robert, a former vice president in charge of quality-control reviews, raised numerous concerns about serious defects in mechanical [...]

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TELG Principals Scott Oswald and Jason Zuckerman published an article in the May 27, 2010 edition of Law360 titled “Whistleblower Protection In The Finance Reform Bill.”  The article discusses the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (S. 3217), which the Senate passed on May 20 by a vote of 59-39.   The bill, which we [...]

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On May 24, 2010, Jason Zuckerman, a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm, will speak about the whistleblower protection provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment act of 2009 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  The event is co-sponsored by the National Treasury Employees Union, Project of Government Oversight, the American [...]

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On May 21, 2010, Jason Zuckerman, a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm, will speak on whistleblower provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act at a CLE hosted through www.lawseminars.com.  The program will discuss recent developments concerning SOX, including new and pending corporate whistleblower protection legislation. For more information about upcoming speaking engagements featuring the [...]

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Principal Jason Zuckerman of The Employment Law Group® law firm is quoted in an article in BNA’s Daily Labor Report titled “Health Care Law Has Whistleblower, Other Employee-Friendly Amendments,” about the whistleblower provisions of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009.  The article was published on April 13, 2010.  The Patient Protection and [...]

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In an article discussing the new whistleblower law contained in section 1558 of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Jason Zuckerman is quoted comparing the new provision to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).  The article, titled “Whistle-Blower Protections Tucked into Health Reform Law,” was published by the Society for Human Resource Management on April 26, [...]

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TELG attorneys Scott Oswald and Jason Zuckerman published an article in the April 8, 2010 edition of Employment Law 360 about the whistleblower provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009, signed by President Obama on March 23, 2009.  The Act includes several whistleblower provisions including a new private right of action [...]

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On March 10, 2010, Judge Rae issued an order clarifying the right of SOX plaintiffs to remove their claims federal court.  In Miller v. Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc., the complainant changed counsel three times and failed to respond to discovery requests.  Miller then moved to remove her claim to federal court on the basis [...]

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On March 8, 2010, Judge Anderson issued an opinion broadly construing the scope of actionable retaliation under the False Claims Act (FCA), allowing whistleblower Ann Howard to proceed with her FCA retaliation claim in U.S. ex rel. Howard v. Urban Inv. Trust, Inc..  Howard was employed as an accountant for Urban, a property management company [...]

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On 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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Jason Zuckerman, a Principal at The Employment Law Group® law firm, is quoted in a Law360 article titled “Solis’ Whistleblower-Friendly Board May Reshape SOX.”  The article discusses the recent appointment of Paul Igasaki as ARB chair and Cooper Brown as vice chair and predicts that the ARB’s interpretation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will become more [...]

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In 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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