Last week, we blogged about a question we’ve been getting a lot during the pandemic: do I have rights as a pregnant mother under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA)? The answer was complicated because the law doesn’t apply to many (even most) employers and pregnancy per se doesn’t...
On December 18, the Justice Department announced that drug company Biogen, Inc., agreed to pay $22 million to settle a False Claims Act case related to Medicare fraud. Charities Used to Hide Copay Kickbacks When a Medicare patient buys a prescription drug covered by Medicare, they may have to...
On December 18, 2020, the SEC announced three different whistleblower awards totaling over $3.6 million. Because the SEC does not disclose details about its whistleblower awards unless the enforcement action is public, there is no information about the cases themselves except for the SEC’s bare-bones press release. (This is...
On December 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had awarded more than $300,000 to a whistleblower for sharing information that lead to a successful enforcement action. Audit Professionals Often Have Information About Illegal Practices The whistleblower became aware of the potential securities law violations in connection...
As leading pregnancy discrimination lawyers in Los Angeles, workers often contact our firm wondering how they prove pregnancy discrimination. The answer requires a basic understanding of the laws protecting pregnant women and new mothers. If this brief guide does not answer your questions, our experienced pregnancy discrimination lawyers can...
The CDC advises that pregnant people with COVID-19 are at increased risk for severe illness due to COVID-19, as well as “other adverse outcomes, such as preterm birth.” Because of these risks, most doctors will advise pregnant women to take special precautions to protect themselves and their babies by...
A study conducted by the Ethics Resource Center found that 62 million Americans have witnessed fraud or misconduct at work. Whistleblowers are key to combatting this widespread corporate corruption. Many people who see corporate wrongdoing rightfully fear that speaking up will cost them their jobs and livelihoods. This is a...
On December 9, the Los Angeles Times published a bombshell investigation exposing a huge increase in health care fraud at hospices in California. Los Angeles County is home to the largest number of hospice providers in the country. Unfortunately, many of these providers don’t have the best interests of their patients at heart....
Just this week, the limited Los Angeles schools that had been providing in-person education, primarily to special needs students in small group settings, were ordered to return to a fully virtual model. Orange County schools affected by fires have also transitioned temporarily to remote-only learning. Even parents with the...
Dr. Timnit Gebru’s Firing is a Flash Point in the Wars Over Algorithmic Bias On October 2, Timnit Gebru—the leader of Google’s Ethical Artificial Intelligence Team—announced in a series of tweets on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, that she had been fired. Google executive Jeff Dean said in a statement on...