Working for Justice Blog

About two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a press release announcing more than $3.7 billion in settlements and judgments during fiscal year 2017[1] from civil cases brought under the False Claims Act – a federal law that rewards whistleblowers (called “relators”) who recover stolen taxpayer dollars from fraudsters.  The government’s press release attaches DOJ’s FY2017 “Fraud Statistics” charts, which document…

Foreign nationals often play a critical role in providing information necessary to successful enforcement actions. This role is particularly important as the United States seeks to crack down on the American corporations engaging in bribery and corruption while doing business abroad. One of the primary tools the United States Government uses to fight corruption is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,…

The Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. §§ 3141-3148, requires that contractors and subcontractors on federal construction projects pay their employees the prevailing wage rate for their job classification as determined by the U.S. Secretary of Labor. The Davis-Bacon Act is a protective labor law that requires certain federal government contracts “for construction, alteration, and/or repair of public buildings or public works of…

When presenting an employee with a severance agreement, employers typically insist on very broad releases, waiving any claims the employee may bring against the company. Many employers interpret this broad release language to include whistleblower lawsuits under the False Claims Act. Some severance agreements will even explicitly bar an employee from recovering financially from a False Claims Act suit. But don’t such…

When a company is investigated and prosecuted for fraud, the Government typically requires the company to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement. This Agreement obligates the company to take steps to ensure that it complies with the law in the future and regularly reports the status of its compliance to the Government. If the company violates the law again, the…