Milwaukee Employment Law Blog

On one side there is the acting Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Peter O'Rourke and on the other side, the VA's watchdog, Inspector General Michael Missal. In between are the whistleblowers -- those brave enough to step forward and report fraud being committed against the U.S. governmental agency.

In an exchange of vitriolic letters, Missal and O'Rourke have publicly questioned each other's motives and authority in the implementation of the Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act.

A large nursing home operator in the south has settled a whistleblower lawsuit for more than $30 million. Signature HealthCARE, LLC, owns roughly 125 facilities and regularly seeks reimbursement from Medicare. Two former therapy employees for the nursing home company noted that the facilities were billing Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were over-inflated. An investigation revealed that the company billed Medicare for services that were not reasonable, necessary, and skilled, according to the Department of Justice.

The former therapy workers initiated a lawsuit on behalf of the government under the False Claims Act to recover taxpayer money that was fraudulently obtained. The whistleblowers will receive a percentage of the $30 million recovered in the settlement, however, the DOJ has not yet revealed the amount the whistleblowers will receive for uncovering the allegations.

Branches of the United States military often rely on contractors to provide services to benefit the Armed Forces. Defense contractors employ civilians to perform these services. Yet, if a defense industry contractor seeks to pad its own bottom line through overbilling, the federal government may not necessarily be able to detect fraudulent billing practices. For that reason, the federal False Claims Act allows private individuals to bring forth information about unfair and unlawful billing practices to protect taxpayers and the government from fraudulent practices.

Branches of the United States military often rely on contractors to provide services to benefit the Armed Forces. Defense contractors employ civilians to perform these services. Yet, if a defense industry contractor seeks to pad its own bottom line through overbilling, the federal government may not necessarily be able to detect fraudulent billing practices. For that reason, the federal False Claims Act allows private individuals to bring forth information about unfair and unlawful billing practices to protect taxpayers and the government from fraudulent practices.

The short answer: of course you are not too old to read this newest post on our Milwaukee employment law blog. However, that doesn't mean you might not be considered too old to read employment ads on Facebook placed by Amazon, Ikea, T-Mobile, Cox Media Group and hundreds of other companies allegedly targeting their ads away from job-seekers in their 50s and 60s.

The companies apparently use Facebook's targeting capabilities to ensure that their job ads will only be seen by younger Facebook users. A labor union that represents 700,000 media workers has filed a class action lawsuit in federal court alleging age discrimination.