What is a whistleblower?
A whistleblower is someone who reports illegal activity within a company
they work for to a higher authority. That authority could be a government
regulatory agency, law enforcement, or someone else in the company.
To encourage people to come forward, these laws protect the employee
from retaliation for "blowing the whistle" on their employer.
What laws protect whisteblowers?
For many workplace crimes or violations, the law that prohibits the
crime itself also provides protection for whistleblowers. For example,
federal antidiscrimination laws also make it illegal for employers
to fire, demote, or otherwise retaliate against workers who report
workplace discrimination. OSHA's workplace safety rules provide protection
for workers who report unsafe conditions.
How should someone properly report a workplace violation?
It depends on the type of violation. If conditions at your workplace
that appear unsafe or a violation of OSHA standards, you can go to
the OSHA website, www.osha.gov.
There, you can either file the complaint online or print out the complaint
form and mail or fax it to OSHA.
In the event that the conditions are hazardous and present an immediate
danger, OSHA provides an easy to remember emergency phone number to
call: 1-800-321-OSHA.
Aaron, let's say that a hospital or medical provider is over
charging on its billing to the government for medicare or medicaid,
is there anything a citizen can do to stop this type of fraud.
There is a special law set up to stop fraud by government contractors,
or anyone who uses federal money in a fraudulent way. This law is known
as qui tam , which basically means "suing on behalf of the
king."
If you are aware that a company is using federal money in a fraudulent
way, then you can sue that company on behalf of the government. When
you win the case, you get 30 percent of the money the company is forced
to pay.
So let's say that a government contractor or a medical provider has
milked the system for 10 million dollars. You share could be as high
as 3 million dollars for reporting it.
How many of these qui tam lawsuits have been successful ?
Over the last 20 years, over one billion dollars has been recovered
on behalf of our government. Most of the successful cases have been
in the area of defense and health care programs.
How long have Qui Tam lawsuits been around? Is this a new
law?
This law was set up during the civil war, because defense contractors
were using cheap parts, faulty goods, and shoddy materials.
Abraham Lincoln thought it was too difficult for the Attorneys General's
Office to find and prosecute every case, so in effect, every citizen
was given the power to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the government.
We typically think of government contractors when we think
of fraudulent contracts, but realistically if someone were to look
for fraud on our government, where should they look first ?
A huge amount of federal funds - more than 400 billion dollars every
year - is spent on health care, which means that the health care industry
is open to fraud.
Improper billing of Medicare and other medical frauds are a major
source of qui tam lawsuits. Even state and local governments that misuse
federal money can be sued.
If you know of fraud against the government, please don't sit
by and remain silent. It is in everyone's best interest to blow the whistle.
