False Claims Act
If you want to report fraud against the Government, contact False Claims Act attorney Lee Wallace. If you want to be a whistleblowers, you may be worried you will lose your job – or maybe you already have been fired -- because you were doing the right thing to stop somebody from cheating the Government, the military, Medicaid or Medicare. If you want to be a whistleblower under the False Claims Act, contact a whistleblower lawyer with experience, Lee Wallace.
Lee Wallace is respected by her peers, being named a Georgia SuperLawyer every year since the poll of Georgia lawyers began, and she has more than 20 years of experience litigating and handling legal matters in twenty states around the country.
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What is the False Claims Act?
The False Claims Act rewards and protects people who blow the whistle on someone trying to steal from the federal government. (In some states, laws also protect employees who blow the whistle on someone stealing from the state government.) The False Claims Act applies to any entity that does business with the federal government or pays money to the federal government , ranging from hospitals and doctors who bill Medicaid and Medicare, to defense contractors, to highway construction contractors, to importers and others who pay taxes or tariffs to the Government.
How Much Does the Whistleblower Get?
If the wrongdoer is found liable, the wrongdoer is fined and required to pay three times the Government’s damages. If the United States Government pursues the case, the whistleblower is entitled to receive between 15% and 25% of what the government collects. The recovery is limited to 10% if the whistleblower’s claim is based primarily on disclosures related to information that was publicly disclosed, such as court hearings, government hearings or reports, or from the media. Qui tam suits cannot be based on public disclosures in court, government hearings, or from the media, unless the person bringing the suit is the Attorney General, or was an original source of the information.
If the government decides not to pursue the case, then the whistleblower is entitled to pursue the case. If he wins, he will get between 25% and 30% of the recovery, plus costs and attorneys’ fees.
The law allows the court to reduce the percentage paid to someone who planned and initiated the bad conduct. And if the whistleblower is criminally convicted for the theft, the law provides he does not get any percentage of the recovery at all.
A person may not bring a suit “which is based upon allegations or transactions which are the subject of a civil suit or an administrative civil money penalty proceeding in which the Government is already a party.” 37 U.S.C. § 3730 (e)(3).
What if I get fired because I am a Whistleblower?
If an employee is discriminated against, demoted or fired because he helps with a whistleblower suit, the employee has the right to be made whole. He can be reinstated, and get 2 times the amount of back pay with interest, plus any special damages and attorneys’ fees.
How does the False Claims Act Work?
By statute the whistleblower actually brings the lawsuit. The suit is called a qui tam suit, and the person who brings the suit is called the relator. The lawsuit is filed under seal, and the U.S. Government is given time to decide whether it wants to pursue the case.
Where can I read the False Claims Act?
The most important provisions of the False Claims Act for whistleblowers are found at 31 U.S.C. § 3729 and 31 U.S.C. § 3730.
