Category: News

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...

Cleaning / Maintenance Industry Many cleaning and maintenance companies will not pay its employees for time spent traveling from one job to another. Additionally, these employers may also pay its employees on a “per job” basis, or a lump sum for a location to be cleaned. In many instances, these employers do not compute over-time...

Misclassified Assistant Managers/Shift Supervisors In an effort to cut payroll costs many companies today will name certain employees “assistant manager” or “supervisor” and pay them a set salary. However, due to the nature of the employees’ work and the lack of true management authority, these employees are, in fact, legally entitled to the payment of...