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.
I think we’d all like to think that if we were put into a situation where we knew that something was wrong, that we’d speak up, but that’s not always the case, especially in a workplace environment. Many people would be afraid that if they did speak up, it could cost them their jobs. Recently, LifeWatch Services Inc. has agreed to pay $18.5 million to settle charges that it submitted false claims to federal health care programs. All of this came to light because two former sales representatives chose to speak up and report the abuse.
The sales representatives filed the whistle-blower suits in December 2009 and May 2011 under the provisions of the False Claims Act. With this filing the two will receive approximately $3.4 million plus interest as their share of the settlement proceeds.
Both Minnesota and federal law protect employees who report illegal activities taking place in their workplace. Under these laws, it is generally illegal for an employer to retaliate against whistleblowers by firing or demoting them, among other actions.
Recently, a federal judge ordered the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to reinstate an employee who had reportedly complained about the poor maintenance of the clinic’s vehicles.