Companies sometimes break the law in the pursuit of economic advantages. Some organizations violate safety standards intended to protect workers because their leadership feels it is too costly to provide training and equipment. Others may engage in illegal or unfair competition.
Occasionally, companies that directly bill the United States government or programs the government funds engage in fraudulent financial behavior. The federal government reimburses private businesses for railroad maintenance and medical care.
Under the False Claims Act, a law more than a hundred years old, employees can file a lawsuit against their employers on behalf of the federal government. These qui tam lawsuits aim to secure compensation for inappropriate billing practices by railroads and healthcare providers. Do employees who initiate qui tam lawsuits become whistleblowers?
Lawsuits can lead to whistleblower protection
The two most common paths to whistleblower status include making internal reports at a company about illegal behavior or notifying regulatory authorities. Qui tam lawsuits technically fall into that second category through indirect communication.
The worker acting as a relator by filing the lawsuit has to provide evidence about fraudulent billing practices. Federal regulatory authorities then review that information. They may sometimes step up and take over the litigation process. Other times, the government allows the relator to manage the entire litigation process.
In either scenario, the worker who files the lawsuit initially enjoys the basic protections extended to any whistleblower. They should not have to worry about employer retaliation. Workers should not lose their jobs, endure mistreatment or face discriminatory employment decisions because they did the right thing.
Workers planning to file qui tam lawsuits may need to maintain personal documentation of their actions so that they can establish that they acted as a whistleblower if the company punishes them later. The employees who have experienced whistleblower retaliation may have grounds to file a lawsuit against the company for violating state and federal employment regulations.
Initiating a qui tam lawsuit is one of many ways for a concerned worker to act as a whistleblower after noticing illegal company conduct. They should benefit from whistleblower protection as soon as they file the lawsuit, and they could even receive financial compensation if the lawsuit is successful.