Whistleblower

There are many laws that protect whistleblowers from retaliation for investigating and prosecuting fraud, or for opposing other unlawful practices.  For example, the federal False Claims Act includes a provision that prohibits retaliation against employees or contractors based on efforts to stop fraudulent conduct. Many states also have their own versions of the False Claims Act that include whistleblower protection provisions.  In addition, there are dozens of other state and federal statutes, such as the Michigan Whistleblower Protection Act or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, that afford whistleblowers similar legal recourse from retaliation.

Certain whistleblower statutes include provisions that allow whistleblowers to share in the proceeds in the event of a government recovery, and/or if fines and penalties are assessed.  In False Claims Act cases for example, whistleblowers generally receive between 15 and 25 percent of the ultimate recovery by the government, regardless of whether that recovery is the result of settlement or a judgment.  There are many factors that determine what specific percentage will be awarded to a successful whistleblower.  In addition, other whistleblower laws, such as those that permit whistleblowers to report fraud to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), provide a similar percentage recovery to the whistleblower.

There have been many successful whistleblower cases brought by competitors in the industry. Typically, competitors have the additional motivation of wanting to make sure that they are competing in a fair and level marketplace.  Additionally, competitors are often intimately familiar with each other’s policies and practices through the years of working in the same industry.

Of course.  Many employees bring successful whistleblower claims while still serving as employees at the company accused of fraud.  Moreover, many whistleblower laws do not require that an employee reports the fraud internally before pursuing a whistleblower claim.

The statute of limitations varies depending on the whistleblower claim.   In a typical False Claims Act case, for example, there is a six-year statute of limitations for whistleblower claims, but that period may be extended as far back as ten years.  However, other types of claims offer a wide variety of limitation periods.  On one end of the spectrum, an IRS Whistleblower claim has no statute of limitations.  On the other end, a retaliation claim under the Michigan Whistleblower Protection Act is subject to a 90 day statute of limitations.  Regardless of the applicable limitations period, it is usually better to pursue your whistleblower claim as early as possible.  An attorney can help you to discuss the applicable limitations period and your options for filing a lawsuit.

This is highly dependent on the facts of your claim.  Experience has shown that even people who just hear rumors about fraud are sometimes right in their hunch, but just have not looked into the details sufficiently.   We will work with you to see if the information that you have will be sufficient to bring a whistleblower claim.  If you have any information that any type of fraud against the government is occurring you should contact us.

Haron Law Group has an extensive cross-country whistleblower practice and has filed successful claims in numerous courts around the nation. HLG has collected over $400 million in whistleblower recoveries since it began its whistleblower practice. HLG attorneys have authored numerous articles on the False Claims Act and other whistleblower laws, and have been featured as speakers in conferences and seminars both on a local and national level.