Miami Employment Lawyer Blog

Under the Florida False Claims Act, if an employee becomes aware that his or her employer has filed a false claim to a government agency, that employee may file a lawsuit and be awarded as much as 25 to 30 percent of the amount recovered. There is also a federal False Claims Act that covers federal false claims. For example, if an employee is required to submit a false time card or false report (e.g., an insurance report) to a state or federal agency under which the employer has a contract to provide products or services, the employee may sue under the applicable Florida or federal False Claims Act and will be awarded compensation. These laws are meant to assist the government in recovering money that is stolen by government contractors. The lawsuits are called "Qui Tam" lawsuits, which is short for Qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso, a Latin phrase which means "He who sues on behalf of the King, also sues for himself as well."

However, it should be noted that an individual cannot file a claim based on "public information." The individual must be the original source of the information, e.g., he or she must have personal knowledge of and/or seen the false claim or fraud perpetrated. In the employment context, if an employee is required by his employer to submit a false claim or report, that employee has standing to sue under the False Claims Act and may recover as much as 30 percent of the amount recovered by the government. If an employee files a claim under the False Claims Act and gets fired because of it, then the employee can sue the employer for retaliation under the Florida Civil Rights Act or under the applicable federal law.

An example of recent litigation under the False Claims Act is the case of Merck Pharmaceuticals, where they agreed to pay $650,000.00 to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit. That lawsuit was settled in January 2008 and involved accusations of the company taking kickbacks and violating Medicaid best price regulations for the pharmaceuticals that it was marketing. Another example is the recent settlement (September 2009) by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals where they agreed to pay $2.3 billion for allegedly marketing "off label" drugs that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In that case, a Pfizer employee will receive more than $51 million for bringing the matter to the attention of the authorities under the False Claims Act.

Continue reading "Florida False Claims Act may be a Remedy for Employees that are Faced with Doing the Employer's Bad Deeds" »

The Florida Private Sector Whistleblower Act, Fla. Stat. §448.102 et seq. (FWA) provides protection to employees who have complained about an employer's illegal or wrongful conduct. However, it is not sufficient under the FWA for an employee to merely state that the employer is doing something illegal.

There are several strict requirements that employees must prove under the FWA. Specifically, an employee must not only complain about illegal conduct, he or she must also prove the following. First, the employee must prove that he or she disclosed or threatened to disclose to a governmental agency, in writing and under oath, an activity, policy or practice of the employer that was in violation of a law, rule or regulation. This requires the employee to not only make or threaten to make a report in writing and under oath, but also requires the employee to prove that the activity, policy or practice is, in fact, illegal under federal or local law. A mere belief that conduct is illegal is not sufficient. In addition, the disclosure must be to a governmental agency and must be in writing and under oath. Thus, a letter to a state health department may not be sufficient if it is not made under oath.

Second, the employee must provide that the employer retaliated against the employee because of the protected activity, e.g., the disclosure. This means that the employer must have known or been informed of the disclosure. This requirement in itself will mean that only extremely recalcitrant employers will become subject to an FWA claim.

Third, the employee must prove that the employer not only knew of the disclosure, but that the employer was given written notice of the activity, policy or practice that was illegal, thereby giving the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct the activity, policy or practice. Such written notice must be specific and not just simply "rantings" about the circumstances at work. This is to prevent mere employment disputes from reaching the level of an FWA claim.

Therefore, as many have already guessed by reading the foregoing, in real world circumstances, only the very astute private sector employees will be able to prevail under these standards. However, employees and employers alike must be aware of these requirements and should be always vigilant when illegal activity is suspected or when an employee raises the aspect of illegal activity occurring.

Continue reading "Florida's Whistleblower Law Requires Strict Compliance with Requirements" »