When employers terminate employees who expose fraud

Omni Bridgeway helped a firm bring a qui tam case on behalf of a relator who was subjected to retaliatory actions taken by his former employer upon his revelation of the employer’s fraud. The relator, a former executive for a leading company in its industry, was terminated in what was described as a downsizing or reorganization after he made repeated attempts to address the company’s deceptive pricing for products sold to the US government. 

 

The relator’s employer and another entity colluded for years to submit false claims to the government for payment for products without the inclusion of discounts and sales terms they were contractually obligated to provide in the contract with the government. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent by the government on purchases made at falsely inflated prices and volumes. As the relator reported, investigated and attempted to stop the fraudulent conduct, his employer attempted to cover up the scheme by threatening, discriminating against and ultimately discharging the relator. In addition to filing suit under the federal False Claims Act and the false claims act statutes of multiple states, the relator brought retaliatory and wrongful termination claims against his former employer.