The owners of three medical companies agreed to a $10 million settlement in January to resolve allegations of a kickback scheme that caused false claims to Medicaid and Medi-Cal. California receives $4 million from the settlement. Earlier this year, a pharmaceutical manufacturer and its chief executive officer agreed to a $47 million settlement related to similar allegations. California will receive nearly $385,000. We often discuss the importance of whistleblowers in uncovering billions … [Read more...]
California Bill AB 692 Targets “Stay or Pay” Employment Agreements
According to the American Economic Liberties Project, approximately one in 10 workers have employment agreements that require them to repay routine job training costs if they leave their position before a specified period ends. Beginning next year, these so-called “stay-or-pay” agreements would largely be prohibited in California under AB 692, legislation that was sent to Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 23. Critics argue that stay-or-pay agreements restrict worker mobility by effectively … [Read more...]
Nearly $67 Billion in VA Contracts at Risk of Fraud: Why Whistleblowers Matter
The Department of Veterans Affairs has $66.9 billion in committed contracts — the most procurement dollars of all the U.S. government’s civilian agencies (i.e. not the Department of Defense). Unfortunately, the VA also appears to rank high in fraud. The VA’s Office of Inspector General recently audited just 20 VA contracts for compliance; it found overcharging in 11 of them. At least two cases involved fraud against the government — False Claims Act violations that the government pursued … [Read more...]
Chickens to seatbelts: The scope of the DOJ’s new whistleblower program
It can happen with something as ubiquitous and unassuming as poultry. A five-year price-fixing scheme inflated the price Americans paid for chicken. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. pleaded guilty in 2021 to a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chicken products — with a sentence that included about $107.9 million in criminal fines. The federal government hopes it can unearth a lot more of these schemes — which are notoriously difficult to detect and investigate (LINK TO PRIOR BLOG) — … [Read more...]
Employee Misclassification: What Workers Should Know About This Costly Technicality
We’ve seen this happen before, and workers need to know about it so they can protect their rights, incomes and livelihoods — especially when they may need a worker misclassification attorney to step in. This time, it was a nationwide janitorial and commercial cleaning company that operates under the CleanNet brand, along with its four California area operators, who allegedly misclassified employees as independent contractors. The company, which denied the allegations, recently agreed to a … [Read more...]
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