Protections for Whistleblowers

Whistleblowers play an important role in many of the cases against corporations that are prosecuted by the United States. In many cases, the prosecution would not have enough to make a case without the whistleblower. To reward people for turning their employers and entire corporations in for various actions, the federal government has created a number of protections for individuals who blow the whistle on their corporation.

Many of the protections offered to whistleblowers vary based on the state in which the whistleblower lives. There are still a wide variety of federal laws that protect employees who call attention to violations, help with enforcement proceedings, or refuse to obey unlawful directions.

The patchwork of laws that exist means that the victims of retaliation following their whistleblower actions need to be alert to the laws at issue in their case in order to determine the deadline for making the proper complaints. Some types of actions have as few as 10 days following the discharge or retaliatory action to file a complaint with the proper authorities.

Individuals who report a false claim made against the federal government and then suffer retaliatory or adverse employment actions may have six years to file a civil suit for remedies under the False Claims Act or FCA. Under a qui tam suit, the “original source” of information for the report can be entitled to a portion of whatever the government recovers from the offenders as a result of the information provided.

In order to be eligible, the “original source” must be the first individual to file a federal civil complaint for recovery. In addition, this person must avoid making the claim public until after the federal government decides to prosecute the claim.

Contact a Houston Employment Attorney

If you were the “original source” in a qui tam law suit and suffered retaliatory actions from your employer, contact the Houston employment attorneys of the Ross Law Group at 713-482-6910.