Blog Archives | Page 12 of 17

September 7, 2016

Halunen Law - Employment Attorneys Answering Why & When Every one of us would love to find that dream job with the perfect boss and supportive co-workers, a sort of “Occupational Utopia”, but not all employment relationships have a happily ever after. Unfortunately, there are times when honest, hardworking employees get caught up in workplace issues that are confusing and by their very nature, highly sensitive.

Without realizing it, you can find yourself at the critical point where you have suffered from or witnessed illegal workplace issues, and now you are forced to decide between revealing the truth and protecting your job. The good news is that you can do both, but… it requires you to take action and initiate the process.

June 7, 2016

Halunen Law - False Claims Act Serves Citizens Blowing Whistle

Forged Under Civil War Fire, The False Claims Act Continues To Serve As Basis For Private Citizens To Blow The Whistle On Would-Be Fraudsters Of The Government Trust

Under a little-known law, private citizens with knowledge of fraud against the government can bring a lawsuit against the offending organization. Called the False Claims Act, the law—often called the original Whistleblower Law — originated in the Civil War era, when rampant fraud against the U.S. government threatened the very existence of the country.

Sickened by the spectacle of contractors supplying the army with broken guns and sand-packed bullets, lame pack mules and cardboard boots, President Lincoln pressed Congress for a law setting severe financial penalties for fraud against the government. The law also included a provision to empower private citizens to sue fraud perpetrators on behalf of the government. Known by its Latin name as “qui tam,” this provision allows the courts to award whistleblowers, called “relators” under this law, a share of the monies recovered by the government in fraud cases. In Lincoln’s time, the law brought corrupt defense contractors to heel. Today it serves to protect taxpayers against fraud from contractors in any number of industries. Equally important, the law protects individuals, like the Civil War soldiers fighting with inferior equipment, who suffered injury as a result of the fraud. Many states, including Minnesota, have adopted whistleblower laws to protect against fraud against state agencies.

April 1, 2016

Halunen Law - Whistleblower Ends Cancer Patients' Defrauding

The diagnosis: Cancer. Few words have the power to alter one’s life as dramatically as those six letters linked with the phrase – “test results.” The Journey begins. The two critical elements for any cancer patient are affordable care and a physician that, above else, you can trust with your life. There is an ethical expectation that providers will live up to their oath to make the patient’s need their top priority, abstain from medical malfeasance and recognize and be mindful of the impact their patients’ care can have on the stability of their families and finances.⁽¹⁾

Tuesday, March 8, 2016, a press release by the Department of Justice⁽²⁾ announced a $37-million-dollar settlement with 21st Century Oncology Inc., the nation’s largest physician led integrated cancer care provider, and its wholly owned subsidiary South Florida Radiation Oncology LLC. The False Claims Act lawsuit included allegations that they defrauded Medicare and other federal health care programs including TRICARE, the Department of Defense military health program supporting our uniformed services.

March 29, 2016

When it seems like people are accepting of others and their beliefs, something happens to change that. For a St. Cloud, Minnesota, police officer his career and performance were rated high until he revealed his sexual orientation to his employer. Now, the officer who was viewed highly within his department believes he is being discriminated against because of his sexual orientation.

The officer began his career in 2006 as a police officer and over the next several years he was viewed as an “excellent officer” and earned high marks on his monthly performance reports. During these first few years, he received letters of recognition and commendation for various accomplishments.

December 27, 2015

Halunen Law - Protecting the Public with Wistlblower Protections

The Star Tribune published an article today about how a mental health agency, Complementary Support Services, that was supposed to provide quality services to a vulnerable population, instead is reported to have engaged in rampant fraud that “bilked the state’s Medicaid program of millions of dollars and provided inadequate supervision of unlicensed practitioners.” That private agency is now the subject of a federal and state False Claims Act qui tam lawsuit that resulted from a report to the government by a former employee.

The False Claims Act is designed to encourage citizens to challenge conduct that cheats private agency clients and wrongfully takes taxpayers money to do so. It also provides whistleblower protection to employees who are treated badly or fired because they challenge, report or refuse to engage in illegal conduct. The goal of the law is to stop fraud in its tracks by encouraging oversight by employees, recipients of services and the public.

September 29, 2014

Whether or not you were aware of it, Minnesota recently took another giant leap forward in protecting its employees from unfair discrimination in the workplace. On Mother’s Day 2014, Governor Dayton signed into law the Women’s Economic Security Act. While the title suggests that the act’s focus is equal pay for women, it actually provides a broad range of new protections for all Minnesotans.

Familial Status as a Protected Class
One effect of the act is that the Minnesota Human Rights Act is amended to include familial status as a protected class. This means that an employer cannot take adverse employment action against an individual on the basis of them being a parent, guardian, or designee, of a child who lives with them. It also means that a person cannot be punished for being pregnant or securing custody of anybody under 18.

June 10, 2014

Old Man Fired from Job Because of Age Discrimination

It is rare for a few days to pass without getting a call from someone who was terminated because of, they believe, their age. It happens all the time. An employer hires someone in their 20s or 30s when they’re young and inexperienced. In their 40s, the employee has climbed the professional ladder, trained in new employees, maybe even become a supervisor or manager, and then in their 50s the employee starts being treated differently. The subtle shift begins by the employer excluding the older employee from important meetings with newer clients, or not giving them new big deals that come in. The discrimination becomes more obvious when, all of a sudden and for the first time, the employer puts the older employee on a Performance Improvement Plan or starts critiquing them for fabricated performance issues. Ultimately, after a sophisticated employer has spent some time creating a paper trail to justify terminating this older employee, they do. And they say they are terminating the employee because of performance issues.

May 28, 2014

Man Injured Under Minnesota Worker's Compensation Laws

It was just another day at work, and you were going about your usual tasks. You never anticipated getting injured on the job, but it happened. After a trip to the emergency room, numerous doctor visits, and a week of time off from work, the medical bills are piling up and the mortgage payment is due in two weeks. Your sister had a work injury a year ago, and you knew her employer paid the extra expenses caused by the injury. You just assumed your employer would take care of your expenses too. However, today you received a letter saying that your employer is denying your workers’ compensation benefits. They claim you are an independent contractor and ineligible. You have never even considered yourself an independent contractor. Now what?

April 23, 2014

Man Discriminated Against for Race Association

Did you know that Minnesota law protects employees from discrimination because of the race of their family and friends? For example, if your boss tells you that you can’t have photos of your bi-racial child in your cube or office, but allows white employees to leave up photos of their white children, you may be experiencing discrimination based on race. Or if your significant other is a person of a different race and people at work make negative remarks about that, you may be experiencing discrimination based on race. If you find yourself in a situation where your boss makes offensive remarks or treats you differently because of the race of your family members or friends, this may well be discrimination because of race association.

April 9, 2014

You start a new job and everything is going great. Your coworkers are welcoming and your boss is particularly friendly. It may seem innocent at first. A compliment about your appearance, a comment about what you’re wearing, a pet name. But the frequency starts to make you uncomfortable. Your boss starts asking about your love life and sexual preferences. Soon the anxiety from dealing with constant unwanted attention makes you dread going to work and you wonder if there is anything you can do.

In Minnesota, you have a right to work in an environment free from sexual harassment, which includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, sexually motivated physical contact or other verbal or physical conduct or communication of a sexual nature. It doesn’t matter whether the perpetrator is male or female, or is your boss, coworker, subordinate, or president of the company; this type of behavior is illegal under the Minnesota Human Rights Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act if it substantially interferes with your work environment.