ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Healthcare Providers and the SEC
According to an SEC investigation, a health insurance provider has been using illegal severance agreement that attempt to gag ex-employees who might consider becoming whistleblowers. The agreements, which were changed after the passage of the Dodd-Frank act, make former employees waive their right to any monetary recovery from becoming a whistleblower. Health Net agreed to pay $340,000 and inform the hundreds of employees who had signed the agreements that they were no longer bound by the waiver, although the company did not admit or deny the allegations.
The SEC’s whistleblower program, which has been very active in the six years since its founding, is meant to provide the Commission with the inside information that only employees are able to provide. The securities market can be very opaque, even to Federal investigators, and large firms have a vested interest in keeping their trade secrets under wraps. Because of these factors, when laws and regulations are being violated, it can be very difficult for outsiders to know, as our Santa Clara SEC whistleblower attorneys have observed.
This is where whistleblowers come in. Since whistleblowers are already enmeshed in the inner working of these companies, they are in a much better position to see the memos, documents, and communications that can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that wrongdoing was committed. Rather than getting bogged down in lengthy investigations and trying to get access to documents that the company wants to hide, whistleblowers allow SEC investigators to get the drop on corporate malefactors.
While there are laws in place to prevent companies from interfering with or seeking retribution against whistleblowers, there are many instances where large corporations try to identify whistleblowers and prevent them from informing the government about their misdeeds. This severance agreement from Health Net is just one of many such examples of companies trying to protect themselves from whistleblowers.
Contact Us
If you have knowledge about misdeeds committed by a healthcare provider, pharmaceutical company, or other corporation, contact the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at info@evanslaw.com. Our Santa Clara SEC whistleblower attorneys have experience helping guide whistleblowers through the SEC, IRS, and FCA whistleblower process, and can help whistleblowers get the compensation they deserve.
