In a recent opinion, the Texas Supreme Court clarified one key aspect of whistle blower complaints.  The Texas Whistleblower statute applies to government employees only.  See Tex. Govt.C. Sec. 554.001, et seq.  The statute protects an employee who reports a possible violation of law.  The report or question must be to an "appropriate law

Many laypersons people are familiar with the retaliation part of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  That anti-retaliation provision prohibits retaliation against someone who opposes discrimination.  Title VII is a federal statute.  Texas is an at-will state.  But, even so, Texas does have a few state anti-retaliation statutes.  

Texas prohibits reprisal

Whistleblowers have a rough row to hoe.  George Green knows this better than anyone.  A former architect for the Texas Dept. of Health and Human Services, he blew the whistle on shoddy building practices at DHHS some 25 years ago.  DHHS fired him in 1989 for alleged sick leave issues.   In 1991, the jury

The employee of an Illinois law firm was fired when he refused to cooperate in issuing fraudulent bills to clients.  The law firm claimed the hours performed by an in-hpuse employee were actually performed by an outside investigator.  The firm then billed at the higher rates used by outside investigators.  One of the in-house investigators

A former SAWS employee was awarded $275,000 in state district court here in Bexar County.  See San Antonio Express News report. Kevin Martin claimed he was fired because he reported that employees were improperly exposed to asbestos pipes. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality investigated and found violations. Sounds like a whistle blower lawsuit. 

 The employer does lose, sometimes.  I wrote about the nurses who complained about a doctor.  See prior post.  The nurses were charged with felonies, which charges were eventually dropped.  They then filed a whistleblower lawsuit and eventually settled.  Their lawsuit became nationally known.  Well, now the doctor they complained about has now suffered his

The federal government has settled a case against a longtime San Antonio medical group.  Kellum Family Medical Practice Associates was accused of falsely billing the federal government.  The lawsuit, a qui tam lawsuit, also known as a whistle blower lawsuit, started when a former employee claimed the Kellum clinic submitted false bills for medicare and