Compliance Stuff

On June 13, the National Whistleblower Center (NWC)  sent a letter  to the Senate Finance Committee urging for the provisions of the bipartisan IRS Whistleblower Improvement Act to be included in the budget reconciliation bill being debated in the Senate. Since 2006, the IRS Whistleblower Program has become an integral part of the IRS’s enforcement efforts by incentivizing insiders to come forward and disclose hard-to-detect misconduct. Whistleblower disclosures have led to the collection of over $6 billion from tax fraudsters. However, the program  has struggled in recent years as delays have grown and payouts to whistleblowers have dropped . While recent administrative reforms  have strengthened the program , advocates believe that it has even more potential. For the past few years, advocates  have been calling for the passage of the bipartisan IRS Whistleblower Improvement Act .  Introduced in the last session of Congress  by Senators Grassley and ...

On May 22, the U.S. Supreme Court  granted a stay  allowing for the Trump administration’s termination of Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) chair Cathy Harris to stand while her lawsuit challenging her termination works its way through the courts. The order formalizes a temporary emergency stay granted in April and means that the MSPB, the quasi-judicial agency which oversees retaliation cases for federal employee whistleblowers, will continue without a quorum needed to issue decisions. Whistleblower advocates have  characterized the firing of Harris without cause as creating a crisis for federal whistleblowers . Harris was fired by President Trump on February 10. Sh e quickly challenged her termination, claiming it was illegal because under federal law, members of the MSPB may be removed from office “only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” While U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling temporarily reinstati...

On March 2, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed the  False Claims Act  (FCA) into law. Over the past century and a half, the law, which offers whistleblower awards under its  qui tam  provisions, has emerged as America’s number one anti-fraud law. Now turning 162, the False Claims Act faces an immense threat, as a district court ruled in September that its  qui tam  provisions are unconstitutional. At the same time, however, government officials are promising “aggressive” enforcement of the law and to defend the constitutionality of its  qui tam  provisions. America’s Number One Anti-Fraud Law Faced with government contracting fraud undermining the nation’s war effort during the Civil War, Congress looked for a new law to fight back against fraudsters. The FCA’s  qui tam  provisions, which allow individuals to file suit alleging fraud on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recoveries from a successful case, provid...