The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled recently that the protection against retaliation in employment afforded by the federal False Claims Act (FCA) does not apply to an individual who was no longer employed when the alleged retaliation occurred.
The ruling by the appeals court in Potts v. Center for Excellence in Higher Education, No. 17-1143 (10th Cir. November 6, 2018), concludes that the FCA’s plain language covers only those who were current employees when the alleged retaliation occurred. In this case, the plaintiff alleged that her former employer retaliated against her in violation of the FCA when it sued her for actions she took after she voluntarily quit her job.
A copy of the Tenth Circuit’s opinion is available here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.