Category: News

Scathing GAO Report on Whistleblowers Prompts New Pressure on IRS In September 2011, the Governmental Accountability Office released its review of the progress being made toward a more efficient whistleblower program within the Internal Revenue Service. The review showed that immediately there was a positive public reaction to the program, with thousands of new whistleblowers...

GAO Report Wants More Time-Efficient IRS Whistleblower Program In August 2011, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published its conclusions on the effectiveness of the Internal Revenue Service’s whistleblower program and how it could be improved. This program was a part of the newly expanded whistleblower legislation that passed Congress as the Tax Relief and Health...

Oracle Pays $200 Million in False Claims Act Settlement When will Oracle learn? In October 2011, the software giant has agreed to pay $200 million to the U.S. government in response to allegations that the company was overcharging the federal government, specifically the General Services Administration (GSA), for products that were sold at a cheaper...

False Claims Act Violations Lead to Industry-Wide Protections This past week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finally released the proposed rule that would require drug and device companies to report publically any gifts or payments given to doctors and medical professionals. The rule was written in response to the passage of the Physician...

Kickbacks between Insurers and Labs Raise Anti-Fraud Ire Recently, United States Senators Max Baucus and Charles Grassley, known standard-bearers in the fight against fraud, opened an investigation into the Medicare practices between certain health insurers and clinical laboratories. The point of conflict revolves around the practice referred to as “pulling through,” which means that health...

Combating Fraud and the SEC’s Secret Justice How many times have you heard this story? A big corporation commits fraud and other illegal activities and is caught by the Securities and Exchange Commission. As their regulator, the SEC is responsible for seeking justice for these actions. Next, the company pays a large fine, usually in...

Internships As Free Labor? Not Necessarily According To DOL The days of filing paper and serving coffee for free may be over. Today’s harsh economy has students accepting unpaid internships for summer employment and, in the alternative, has employers possibly taking advantage of these students. The United States Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division,...

Service Industry Employees Employees in service industries such as mortgage financing, brokers, call centers, and information technology in many cases are paid by salary and commissions and not paid overtime.  Many such workers regularly work incredibly long hours and when factoring in their compensation systems are not paid any overtime when the law may require...