The Administrative Review Board (“ARB”) of the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently ruled in favor of a whistleblower at a nuclear power plant in South Carolina. In Smith v. Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC & Atlantic Group, d/b/a DZ Atlantic, William Smith alleged that he had been terminated because he reported a coworker for failing [...]

Congressman Edward J. Markey of the 7th District of Massachusetts sent another letter on June 4, 2012, to Chairman Greg Jaczko of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) calling for an independent review into the NRC’s safety culture.  Rep. Markey, senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and an advocate for increased nuclear safety, initially [...]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) of the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) scored a major victory on Monday, June 18, 2012 for the rights of railroad workers.  OSHA ordered Norfolk Southern Railway Co. to pay three railroad whistleblowers $802,168.70 in damages, including $525,000 in punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.  The order follows a [...]

An administrative law judge (“ALJ”) ordered Kentucky-based Cumberland River Coal Company to reinstate whistleblower Charles Scott Howard last week, finding that the company improperly terminated the eastern Kentucky coal miner in May 2011 following a workplace injury he sustained ten months earlier.  Following his injury, the ALJ found, Howard was treated extensively by “two neurosurgeons, [...]

Taxpayers Against Fraud (“TAF”) released a report last week written by Dr. Jack Meyer, a health economist and professor at the University of Maryland.  The report, entitled The Importance of Whistleblowers to Reducing Fraud Against the Federal Government and Recovering Funds for Taxpayers, was written in response to an October 2011 proposal by the Chamber [...]

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an encouraging decision for whistleblowers this week.  In the case of Ashmore v. CGI Group Inc. and CGI Federal Inc., Benjamin Ashmore sued his former employer alleging that the company had violated § 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”) when it [...]

Last week, Japanese-based camera giant Olympus Corp. announced that it reached a $15.4 million settlement with the company’s former Chief Executive, Michael Woodford, who was terminated after blowing the whistle on the company’s accounting practices last October, according to the Washington Post. Woodford, a Briton, was the first non-Japanese executive to ever lead at Olympus.  [...]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) of the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has ordered Alaska-based North Star Behavioral Health System to reinstate an employee who was terminated after voicing safety concerns regarding the company’s compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”).  OSHA reported in a press release that the employee had raised [...]

U.S. District Judge William T. Lawrence for the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Indiana ruled on June 4, 2012, that Rolls-Royce Corporation (“RRC”) whistleblowers Thomas McArtor and Keith Ramsey could proceed with two of their four theories of liability against the company.  McArtor originally filed a qui tam suit against RRC on [...]

Dr. Walter Tamosaitis, a senior engineer at the nuclear waste-treatment plant in Hanford, Washington, has suffered a series of setbacks over the last two weeks regarding the whistleblower retaliation lawsuit he brought against his former employer.  On May 24th, Dr. Tamosaitis had his complaint against the Department of Energy (“DOE”) dismissed.  On June 1st, the [...]