Even though a whistleblower must be employed by a company that is either a government entity or has a portion of funding come from the federal or state government, the types of fraud involved are vast. There are numerous types of fraud that constitutes a whistleblower case in Pennsylvania. Below is a sampling of frauds by Philadelphia and Pennsylvania whistleblower cases:
Medicare and Medicaid Fraud
Committing fraud related to Medicaid or Medicare is covered under the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law. Medicare and Medicaid are government health care. Therefore, any organization that accepts these forms of payment are collecting and therefore partially funded by a government entity. This is also part of the False Claims Act or a Qui Tam action. If you work for a company that is active or has committed Medicaid or Medicare fraud, you may have a whistleblower case.
Contractor Claims
This is another example of a Qui Tam action. If a contractor misuses funds or files false invoices, they are committing a false claims violation. Reporting this company may be cause for a whistleblower claim.
Environmental Fraud
Environmental fraud is a thing. If an employer is violating an environmental statute and is a government-owned company or partially funded by a government-owned company, any retaliation against the person reporting the fraud would be covered under the whistleblower protection act.
Mail Fraud
There are many reasons mail fraud is a problem. A person is not even allowed to put items in a mailbox that is not mail. If you report your company committing mail fraud, you may have a whistleblower action.
Federal Student Loan Fraud
This is another item covered under the False Claims Act. Misappropriating federal student loan funds or falsely collecting federal student loan funds for an unaccredited institution can lead to a whistleblower action that could be protected under the Whistleblower Protection Law.
Social Security Fraud
Social Security fraud is also known as SSRI fraud. This type of fraud is when social security funds are falsely obtained or misappropriated. This is another example of a Qui Tam Action and can be covered under whistleblower protection.
US Customs Fraud
Attempting to illegal get items through US customs without paying proper taxes would be an example of US customs fraud. An employee who exposes a company’s attempt at US customs fraud may have a whistleblower action.
Derek Smith
7 min. read
Derek Smith