Whistleblowers are private individuals who expose misconduct against the government, including fraud, price fixing, or any sort of illegal activity.  Many laws protect whistleblower employees when they expose misconduct, including the False Claims Act. The FCA protects whistleblowers from retaliation by initially sealing information provided by the whistleblowers to the government and prohibiting the defendant from engaging in retaliation against whistleblowers. Whistleblowers receive 15-30% of damages awarded in a lawsuit under a qui tam provision.  Seven major laws protect environmental whistleblowers who expose corporate violations of environmental regulations.  The Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Act, the Clean Water Act, the Atomic Energy Act, the Solid Waste Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Superfund Act have provisions that protect environmental whistleblowers from employer retaliation when an employee calls the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) or any other law enforcement agency.

Environmental Whistleblowers – Asbestos Lawsuits

Environmental whistleblowers are often crucial in asbestos lawsuits and

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mesothelioma lawsuits.  Because exposing employees to asbestos violates the Clean Air Act, if an employee has evidence of asbestos exposure, he or she is entitled to report this misconduct to the EPA.  The EPA will choose whether to file a lawsuit against the employer, and the environmental whistleblower will be protected against employer retaliation and may be entitled to an award.

Environmental Whistleblower Employment Retaliation Protection

If an environmental whistleblower reports a violation of any of the seven federal environmental laws or another federal agency, he or she may suffer employer retaliation.  Retaliation is any employer action that adversely affects the status of the whistleblower’s job, including a demotion, paycut, denial of promotion, or denial of benefits. These environmental whistleblowers are entitled to file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  If successful, such a complaint could result in a judge awarding backpay, frontpay, damages, promotion, compensatory damages, or punitive damages.

Environmental Whistleblower Law Firm

If you or someone you love knows of misconduct that violates environmental regulations, you may be able to file a whistleblower lawsuit. Environmental whistleblowers should contact the whistleblower lawyers at Bernstein Liebhard for a free and confidential claim evaluation today.

Published November 17, 2011 by