By Steve Kardell | Published June 14, 2022 | Posted in Employee Rights, Whistleblower Litigation | Tagged Tags: Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, CPSIA, employer retaliation |
Are you aware of fraudulent activity within a consumer products company, or an inherent danger of a product the company is trying to conceal? It is important to know your rights under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) so you can safely blow the whistle. Here are a few tips to keep in mind. Read More
Read MoreRecent years have seen a significant rise in whistleblower reports being made to agencies like the SEC and CFTC. For these cases to be successful (many of which have), it is crucial that the whistleblower come armed with sufficient evidence, and that the agencies launching investigations uncover the complete truth of the allegations. It is Read More
Read MoreSan Jose State University (SJSU) recently agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging a coverup of sexual abuse allegations. The claimant was a whistleblower who targeted the suit against the university and former athletic director Marie Tuite. The settlement value was $560,000. Case background In the suit, whistleblower Steve O’Brien claimed the university fired him because Read More
Read MoreOn January 10, 2022, the Sixth Circuit ruled the statute of limitations period for False Claims Act whistleblower retaliation cases begins when the whistleblower is first notified of the adverse retaliatory action. This clarification came in the ruling of El-Khalil v. Oakwood Healthcare, Inc. Case background The plaintiff in the case, El-Khalil, witnessed employees of Read More
Read MoreThe United States Department of Labor will investigate allegations that Apple retaliated against an employee who blew the whistle on company wrongdoing. The whistleblower is Ashley Gjovik, a former senior engineering program manager. Gjovik had originally complained she was subjected to frequent harassment and unsafe working conditions while she worked for Apple. Case background Apple Read More
Read MoreJudith Zimmerman, a former professor at the University of Utah, won $760,000 in damages in a jury trial after she sued the university claiming whistleblower retaliation. The case was another example of how whistleblower retaliation can result in the perpetrator being subject to significant penalties for their actions. Case background Zimmerman had worked for the Read More
Read MoreA whistleblower claims he was wrongfully terminated from his position after repeatedly raising his concerns about COVID-19 protocols at Trojan Battery Co. in Santa Fe Springs. The company was the subject of an investigation in 2020 after a virus outbreak resulted in 61 total infections and the death of one employee. The whistleblower, John Martinez, Read More
Read MoreA former worker at a McDonald’s location in San Jose, California recently filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the company, claiming she was fired for leading protests against the restaurant when it failed to provide workers with personal protective equipment (PPE) in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The employee, Maria E. Ruiz Bonilla, Read More
Read MoreTrisa Crutcher, an employee of a Fort Worth Police Crime Laboratory, recently filed a whistleblower complaint alleging a variety of violations at the lab that could result in negative impacts on hundreds of criminal cases, including investigations surrounding death penalty cases. Crutcher’s 174-page report details massive lags in testing of child sexual abuse cases, various Read More
Read MoreKatrina Bryant, a former worker at a construction site for a new Amazon warehouse in Boardman, Oregon, alleges she was the victim of wrongful termination after she raised concerns to superiors over safety measures to prevent COVID-19 spread. Allegations in the case Bryant was tasked with safety compliance at the construction site, with duties including Read More
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