WILLIAM C. O’HARA v. NIKA TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Duncan, Dec. 22, 2017,
Whistleblower Protection- False Claims Act (FCA) – The FCA can protect a “whistleblower” from discharge due to reporting a third-party’s fraud against the government

No idea why I have this here. I started reading it because I thought it was about something else…

False Claims Act – “Whistleblower” protection- “Any employee, contractor, or agent shall be entitled” to relief for discrimination suffered in an attempt to prevent a violation of the FCA

FCA – The FCA can protect a “whistleblower” from discharge due to reporting a third-party’s fraud against the government

FCA- However, a “whistleblower” action under the FCA can only be done if the retaliation was due to a lawful act to prevent an FCA violation. If the act was not lawful or was not done in furtherance of the FCA, there is no FCA whistleblower protection.

FCA Action- The whistleblower must demonstrate that the conduct he disclosed reasonably could have led to a viable FCA action.

FCA – A contractor is not liable to the government for fraud because they followed the government’s explicit directions. Therefore, it is not fraud to perform unnecessary work if that work was requested by the government.

ARRA Whistleblower Protection – Employers
cannot retaliate against an employee for “disclosing covered information to . . . [a] person with supervisory authority over the employee.”

ARRA – Whistleblower Protection- “Covered Information” is information that an employee reasonably believes “is evidence of gross mismanagement of the contract or subcontract related to covered funds,
gross waste of covered funds, a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety related to the implementation or use of covered funds, an abuse of authority related to the implementation or use of covered funds, or a violation of law, rule, or regulation related to an agency contract (including the competition for or negotiation of a contract) awarded or issued relating to covered funds.

ARRA – Whisteblower Protection – There is no whistleblower protection if the employer can show by clear and convincing evidence that they would have fired the employee even without the disclosure

For more, feel free to read the text of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act