Click link to view video: Whistleblowers Help Curb Corporate Fraud
News
“Pratfalls, Cat’s Paws, and Fact Questions” was the title of a July 16, 2013 Webcast in which H&A attorney Susan Coler was a presenter. The broadcast provided employment attorneys’ with updated information about retaliation statutes and legal theories to maximize success when litigating employment claims.
What is a Cat’s Paw? It’s a theory where a biased lower level manager or co-worker influences a higher-level manager to retaliate against an employee. It has been effectively used to achieve success for employees who have experienced retaliation in the workplace because of who they are or because they blew the whistle on illegal conduct. The webcast also discussed recent developments in litigating Workers’ Compensation Act retaliation claims, including threat of termination as a claim and entitlement to a jury trial.
Besides being named as a 2013 Super Lawyer, Halunen Law Partner Susan Coler was named on the list of the top 50 women attorneys in Minnesota. “It is an honor to be included,” says Coler. “I so respect the many women attorneys in Minnesota who have blazed legal trails and represented their clients with great advocacy, integrity and compassion. It is an honor to be named in the company of those women.” Click here for more information about Coler.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently handed down a victory for employees in Sletten v. Crop Production Services. The Court of Appeals ruled that an employer could be liable for damages when it made false promises to an employee that caused him to turn down a more lucrative job offer. Halunen attorneys represented the employee, Brian Sletten.
Mr. Sletten was working as a manager for Crop Production Services (“CPS”) when another company offered him a higher-paying position. Mr. Sletten enjoyed his job and liked his co-workers at CPS. He told CPS he was considering the higher-paying job offer.
Ross Brindle, host of the Legal Journal on Business 1570, interviewed Halunen attorney Susan Coler about Whistleblowers and the False Claims Act (FCA). Ms. Coler discussed on the air how the FCA works, what types of fraud typically fall under the act, what people need to know if they are aware of fraud against the government, and the monetary incentives available for those people who alert the government to fraud. These claims are also called qui tam claims. Please click on Susan’s photo at left to listen to the radio broadcast.
Minnesota readers may have heard that the St. Paul Macy’s store recently closed. A spokesperson for the company attributed the decision to normal-course adjustments, rather than specifically citing poor sales performance.
For many local residents, the closing — after 50 years in that location — invites nostalgia. For other local residents, however, the closing has prompted more serious concerns. Company officials report that more than 150 employees are either getting severance packages or being offered jobs at other locations. The specific terms of the severance were not disclosed.
Susan Coler is a Minneapolis attorney representing a Minnesota resident who was a whistle-blower in a case against Abbott
Laboratories Inc. The company recently settled a civil and criminal case against it for $1.5 billion.
The Minnesota Lawyer article discusses the Abbott Labs whistle-blower case, and the $84M (15% of civil recovery) shared among the 6 whistleblowers.
The named plaintiffs in the class action lawsuits against IKO have filed their Consolidated Complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. The lawsuits allege that IKO designed, manufactured, and sold defective shingles to homeowners throughout the United States.
The shingles are curling, cracking, falling off buildings, rapidly deteriorating, and otherwise not performing as promised. The lawsuit further alleges that IKO did not take the appropriate steps to remedy the problems. The lawsuit seeks damages for the cost of replacing the defective shingles, labor, disposal and other related expenses. If the court certifies the proposed class, then all individuals who own properties with defective organic IKO shingles that fall within the class as defined by the court will be covered by this lawsuit.
Download a copy of the Consolidated Complaint.
Not all shingles manufactured or sold by IKO are covered by this lawsuit; only organic IKO shingles are at issue.
A Hennepin County jury today found that G&K Services retaliated against truck driver James Dubiel for making a Workers Compensation claim. Dubiel was injured on the job when a car lost control and sideswiped his delivery truck. Dubiel filed a report of injury and G&K then fired him, claiming that he had not provided truthful information in a pre-employment physical.
The jury found that Mr. Dubiel’s filing of a Workers’ Compensation claim was a motivating factor in G&K’s decision to terminate him and awarded Dubiel $111,000 for lost wages and emotional distress, as well as $250,000 in punitive damages.
Dubiel’s attorney Michelle Dye Neumann from Halunen Law remarked: “James Dubiel loved his job. This made his termination particularly painful, to say nothing of the difficulty of finding work in this economy. This verdict lets employers know that the laws mean what they say. Employees who are injured on the job cannot be fired because they report an injury and seek the compensation due to them under the law.”