Thursday, August 13, 2015

Whistleblower Settles for $4.1 Million

A Government contractor reached a settlement to a lawsuit brought by one of its former employees. The $4.1 million settlement ($2.5 to the employees and $1.6 to the law firm) came before the case was set for jury trial in Federal court.

In 2010, the Federal contractor employee raised concerns that technical issues had not been resolved in a plant being constructed to turn radioactive "sludge" into a stable glass form (a process called vitrification). The employee alleged that the contractor was pushing hard to meet a deadline. Meeting that deadline was necessary in order for the contractor to receive millions of dollars in award fees.

A few days after raising his concerns, the employee was removed from the project and escorted from his office. The former employee claimed that he was removed from his job in retaliation for raising those technical issues. He continued to work for the contractor but had no meaningful duties and was ultimately laid off 15 months later.

Construction on the key parts of the plant has been halted since 2012 to resolve those technical issues raised by the whistleblower.

Online source: Tri-City Herald


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