Whistleblower Protection Blog : Whistleblower Lawyer & Attorney : National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund : Whistleblower Protection, Fraud Claims : Washington DC

In 2008, two former employees brought a whistleblower lawsuit against the security firm once known as Blackwater (now named Xe Services). On July 27, the trial began in Alexandria, Virginia and is expected to last two weeks. The two whistleblowers allege that the company overcharged the federal government millions of dollars for their services in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other billing fraud and abuse claims. The company firmly denies these accusations.

The lawsuit was first filed by ex-employees Brad and Melan Davis, who accused the company of attaching fake reimbursement bills to their $1 billion security contract. The whistleblowers claim that Blackwater lied about the number of workers who were being dispatched by them to Iraq and Afghanistan and added extra costs to the travel reimbursement amounts.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The NWC is pleased to announce that whistleblower hero Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse has finally won a six-year legal battle against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2005, Ms. Greenhouse blew the whistle on the Army Corps for extensive contractor fraud in which they were awarding secret, non-compete contracts worth billions of dollars to Halliburton’s subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR). Six years later, the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. has given its final approval on a settlement that requires the Army Corps to pay Ms. Greenhouse $970,000 in lost wages, compensatory damages, and attorneys fees. Her drawn-out journey is recapped by today’s Washington Post, in a column whose title captures the sentiments of the NWC perfectly—this judicial ruling is indeed “a bittersweet win for a federal whistleblower.”

Ms. Greenhouse also appeared on Democracy Now! yesterday with her attorneys Michael D. Kohn and Stephen M. Kohn.

Ms. Greenhouse fought for six years to shine the light on what she has called “the most blatant and improper contract abuse I have witnessed in my career.” Her professional life was put on the line from the minute she testified against the corrupt contracting practices of the Army Corps. After testifying to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, Ms. Greenhouse faced such retaliatory tactics as having her performance reviews suddenly downgraded, after years of exemplary reviews. She was removed from her position and stripped of her top-secret authority clearance. For six years, Ms. Greenhouse witnessed first-hand the harsh realities of coming forward as a whistleblower. She states, “I was simply doing my job and protecting the public interest and was retaliated against for doing so.” 

Ms. Greenhouse’s attorney Michael D. Kohn issued the following statement about the settlement: “Her courage led to sweeping legal reforms that will forever halt the gross abuse she had the courage to expose. Bunny Greenhouse epitomizes what government service is all about. Bunny Greenhouse is an American hero.” 

With the District Court’s final ruling, Ms. Greenhouse now retires at age 67 with full benefits after serving 29 years as a federal employee. But she laments that fighting as a whistleblower has indeed been a “long and emotionally draining experience.” For Bunny Greenhouse, the fight is over, but the memories still remain. She now hopes that her plight will encourage the Administration and Congress to “finally give federal employees the legal rights that they need to protect the public trust.”

We all agree when Ms. Greenhouse says that, “six years to extract justice is too long.”

The NWC rejoices the victory of the whistleblower today, but also takes this moment to reflect upon the lack of strong whistleblower protections for our public servants and encourages you to TAKE ACTION to fully protect federal employees.
 

*Cho Hwang (a NWC intern) contributed to this posting

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The NWC is preparing for a full day of whistleblower events in New York City today. Join the NWC staff and Executive Director Stephen M. Kohn at two events teaching the public about whistleblower rights and the latest whistleblower protection laws.

First, come learn about the latest whistleblower provisions found in the Dodd-Frank Act, and how these rules can help you better represent your clients by providing them with greater employee protection and larger monetary rewards. Mr. Kohn will host this seminar entitled, “The NEW Corporate Whistleblower Protections and Rewards Provisions” at the Crowne Plaza Hotel from 1:00pm to 4:00pm (EDT). Click here to register.

Next, is an author talk and book signing featuring Mr. Kohn and his newly released book, The Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself. This event will be held at the Mid-Manhattan New York Public Library (455 Fifth Avenue at 40th Street) from 6:30pm to 8:30pm (EDT). The talk is free and open to the public, so take this opportunity to meet one of the nation’s leading experts in whistleblower protection law. In addition, Bear Sterns whistleblower Eugene Ross and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whistleblower Robert Kobus will be in attendance.

Monday will be an excellent day for members of the whistleblower community to learn more about whistleblower rights. Come join the NWC and support some of America’s heroes.
 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

David Colapinto, Stephen Kohn, Sean McKessy and Michael Kohn. Photo by Lindsey Williams.

Yesterday, the National Whistleblowers Center (NWC) road trip of seminars came to Washington, DC, to spread the word about new opportunities for whistleblowers under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. "This was the best continuing legal education I've had in 17 years," attorney Don McKenna told me. In fairness, this is in part because the law has never been so good for whistleblowers. "Dodd-Frank's employee protections are the Cadillac of whistleblower protections," NWC Executive Director Stephen M. Kohn said. However, it was also because of the star-studded faculty. The seminar marks the first appearance of Sean X. McKessy to a "whistleblower-friendly" crowd since he became Director of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of the Whistleblower. There was more than one joke about McKessy's background working for corporations. Answering corporate concerns about whether the SEC's rules would undercut internal compliance programs, McKessy said, "I would know if something we [the SEC] do would destroy internal compliance as we know it." McKessy explained how he read through 305 pages of comments to the SEC whistleblower rules. He did so with an eye toward the 40% of frauds that go undetected. McKessy announced that on August 12, 2011 (the day the SEC whistleblower rules go into effect), his office will launch a new web page. The page will have a form for on-line whistleblower submissions. He said his office would be looking for submissions that are "specific, timely and credible." His main message, "We are open for business, and whistleblowers are welcome at the SEC."

Donna Boehme made a presentation on corporate compliance and interface with the new rules. Boehme (rhymes with "Rome") is an internationally recognized authority in the field of organizational compliance and ethics. She is currently a Principal of Compliance Strategists LLC. She serves on the boards of the RAND Center of Corporate Ethics and Governance, the Rutgers Center for Government Compliance & Ethics, the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, and South Texas College of Law - Corporate Compliance Center, and is Program Director for the Conference Board Council on Corporate Compliance and Ethics. She previously served as Group Compliance and Ethics Officer for BP plc (London). Boehme said that she felt the SEC found a good balance between internal compliance and SEC enforcement action and is giving employees a choice of whether to report internally first depending on how they feel about the company's internal compliance program. "Employees really know if a company's compliance program is serious." One good clue: to whom does the chief compliance officer report?  If the answer is the CEO, CFO, general counsel, or HR director, then the program does not have the independence required for the compliance mission. A company's senior people are the typical wrongdoers, she notes. The correct answer is the board. "Expectations for the board are changing, and real board training should be the next wave," she urges. "Not all internal compliance programs are equal," Boehme observed. The process of developing a program employees will trust "allows companies to do some soul searching." Boehme, and her colleague Michael Greenberg, wrote an op-ed for Bloomberg Government last month on the SEC whistleblower rules. "Compliance and internal audit people often get in trouble for doing their job too well," Boehme told us.

Dean Zerbe (pictured with David Colapinto) is special counsel to NWC, and a principal of The Alliant Group. He formerly worked for Sen. Charles Grassley as chief investigator, and as counsel to the Senate Finance Committee.  In that capacity, he wrote the law creating the IRS whistleblower reward program. "The SEC rules came out a lot better because of the National Whistleblowers Center," Zerbe said, noting that the SEC cited NWC's comments over 40 times. "Thank them for the rule being much better." Zerbe's main point, however, was that, "the people whose hands are dirty are the ones who have the specific, timely and credible information." He explained that the phrase "substantially directed, planned, or initiated the violation" is a term of art that refers to the leader of the law-breaking group. Anyone who was following the leader should not suffer a reduction in any reward because they are precisely the group that whistleblower rewards were meant for. Moreover, since becoming a whistleblower can mean a person's career is over, rewards should not be reduced. "To catch a big fish, you need to put a lot of bait in the water."

The NWC seminar tour makes its next stop in New York City on July 25, 2011, at 1:00 p.m. Stephen Kohn will be speaking at the Mid-Manhattan Library in New York City at 6:30 pm (EDT) that evening on his new book, The Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The NWC is gearing up for our special seminar tomorrow in Washington, D.C. at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, entitled “The NEW Corporate Whistleblower Protections and Rewards Provisions.” The entire NWC staff and I are looking forward to attending this open discussion on the newest whistleblower protection laws, which is also available via conference call.

We’re excited to offer you the chance to hear from a host of experts on the field. It is a rare opportunity to meet the Chief of the SEC Whistleblower Office, Sean McKessy, who will be conducting an hour-long session on how the new office will be upholding SEC’s recently adopted whistleblower rules. I am personally looking forward to hearing from Sean McKessy because the NWC’s legal staff and I were extensively involved in the Dodd-Frank rulemaking process. In addition, NWC Executive Director Stephen M. Kohn will present a session on important whistleblower laws. Other honored speakers include Donna Boehme (Principal of Compliance Strategies LLC) and Dean Zerbe (former Tax Counsel on the Senate Finance Committee and current Managing Director of Alliant Group).

It will be exciting for all to see how these new rules can provide greater employee protection and larger financial rewards. We will bring attendees up to speed on the latest whistleblower provisions and equip them with the legislative tools needed to effectively represent their clients. There is still time to register online by clicking here.

The NWC staff and I hope to see you tomorrow from 1:00 to 4:00 pm EST!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A grand jury report released Monday, July 11th, found that San Francisco’s whistleblower program is riddled with shortcomings. The whistleblower program is designed to protect public interest by encouraging employees to disclose waste, fraud, and abuse. However, the report concluded that the program: “angers and confuses whistleblowers,” “lacks an appeals system,” “does not foster transparency,” “lacks a comprehensive tracking system,” “deals with mostly low-level issues,” and “fails to create effective and independent oversight.” These program characteristics ultimately discourage any act of whistleblowing. According to the report by ABC San Francisco’s investigative team, Doctors Derek Kerr and Maria Rivero reported the misuse of a hospital’s “Patient Gift Fund,” which was intended to improve the hospital patients’ comfort. Instead, it was spent on “elaborate staff parties and travel.” Doctor Kerr was subsequently laid off and replaced. Doctor Rivero resigned under pressure and claimed that “anybody in their right mind would never go to (the whistleblower program).” Like the grand jury, Doctor Kerr believes the whistleblower program has “become a threat to whistleblowers.”

Ben Rosenfeld, the City Controller who oversees San Francisco’s whistleblower program, stated that although “there’s room for improvement,” the report did not cover the context by which his office has recovered taxpayer funds in the over 2,000 whistleblower cases since 2004. However, the grand jury concluded overall that the “whistleblower program in its current form has yielded underwhelming results as measured in dollars and cents.”

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Blue Bird Bus Corp., a bus manufacturing company based in Fort-Valley, Georgia, has recently settled a case with the U.S. Department of Labor to pay more then $176,000 in back wages and interest to a former maintenance employee who was illegally terminated in 2004. Blue Bird has also agreed to pay the Labor Department’s costs associated with the case and any repayment of unemployment benefits that the employee received from the years of 2004 and 2009 if the state chooses to claim them.

The employee, named Ricky Dye in court documents, was laid off after reporting safety concerns regarding the improper use of a bucket lift. He was asked to put up Christmas wreaths using a bucket lift truck. Dye asked for training on the proper use of the equipment and management refused, which led to a disagreement between the two parties. This disagreement was then immediately followed by Dye’s illegal termination.

After Dye was fired, OSHA conducted its own whistleblower investigation in which it was concluded that he was illegally terminated for refusing to work under unsafe conditions. When he was not reinstated following the investigation, the Office of the Solicitor for the Labor Department filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in 2006. The district court ruled in favor of the department and Dye was reinstated as part of the settlement. Blue Bird appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 2009, which was once again ruled in favor of the department. The most recent settlement from this past week marks the end of a 7-year roller coaster ride for Ricky Dye and his rights as a whistleblower.
 

*Parth Baxi (a NWC intern) contributed to this posting

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

On July 25, 2011, one of the nation’s leading whistleblower attorneys, Stephen M. Kohn, will share compelling insights from his newly-released book, The Whistleblower’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Doing What’s Right and Protecting Yourself at the Mid-Manhattan New York Public Library. The author talk and book signing will be hosted by “Author @ the Library,” from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. This is a unique opportunity to gain invaluable knowledge from one of the foremost experts in whistleblower rights, free of charge.

The Whistleblower’s Handbook is the first-ever step-by-step guide to whistleblowing and protecting your rights. Within its pages, Kohn lays out twenty-one clearly defined steps on how to effectively blow the whistle while protecting oneself. These vital steps will be shared in our author talk, in an effort to educate the public about employee rights. Attendees can also expect to learn about how the latest federal and state laws can be used to achieve full whistleblower protection and monetary rewards.

Mr. Kohn will also discuss his New York Times op-ed, “The Whistle-Blowers of 1777,” which detailed the plight of the first American national security whistleblowers. Based on the final chapter of The Whistleblower’s Handbook, this piece tells the story of sailors who blew the whistle on misconduct by the first Commander of the United States Navy. Rather than persecuting the whistleblowers for threatening “national security,” the Continental Congress sided with the sailors and acted swiftly to protect their rights. The Congress’s prompt and undisputed response is a far cry from how modern-day administrations treat whistleblowers today, such as the recent prosecution of Bradley Manning and Thomas Drake by the Obama Administration.

Take advantage of this chance to learn more about the history of whistleblowing and gain insight on whistleblower protection laws. The event is open to the public, so be sure to show up early to guarantee yourself a seat.

*Cho Hwang (a NWC intern) contributed to this posting

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

On July 20th, the Chief of the SEC Whistleblower Office, Sean McKessy, will be speaking at the National Whistleblowers Seminar at the prestigious Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington, DC and via conference call. Take advantage of this special seminar and hear from leading whistleblower attorneys who were extensively involved in the Dodd-Frank rulemaking process and the head of the SEC’s Whistleblower Office.

Stephen M. Kohn (Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center), Donna Boehme (Principal of Compliance Strategies LLC) and Dean Zerbe (former Tax Counsel on the Senate Finance Committee and current Managing Director of Alliant Group) join Chief McKessy on the panel for this discussion on the newest whistleblower protections. 

Because of this special nationwide training opportunity, the NWC is making the seminar available for teleconference. The event is entitled “The NEW Corporate Whistleblower Protections and Rewards Provisions” and will run from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm (EDT) on Wednesday, July 20th.   Attorneys will have the opportunity to learn how to use the new corporate whistleblower laws to effectively represent employees, combat fraud, and qualify for large whistleblower rewards. The seminar will explain the new anti-retaliation rules governing corporate employees and the financial reward provisions that require the SEC to pay large financial awards to qualified whistleblowers.

To REGISTER NOW click here. The regular price for the seminar is $295 with reduced fees for ARS members and whistleblowers. For discounts and more information, including agenda and faculty click here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

You don't have to be an employee to suffer retaliation for speaking truth to power. This summer, I have been helping CASA de Maryland, an immigrant rights organization. We helped tenants in a number of buildings in the Hyattsville, Long Branch and Langley Park areas. They are organizing to address a variety of problems with conditions and management.  Recently, tenants of Bedford, Victoria and Newbury Square buildings turned in dozens of conditions complaints to county authorities.  Management responded by sending me a letter telling CASA de Maryland to "cease and desist" from entering their buildings.  To me, this response evinces a certain plantation mentality in which building owners think they can control with whom their tenants associate. Anyway, you can see Univision's story about this reprisal here.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link