St. Cloud Personal Injury Lawyer - Workplace Discrimination

State And Consumers Will Be Protected Under New False Claims Act

Mike Bryant — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:34:00 GMT

Passed the last week of the session and going into law in August, is the False Claims Act (FCA). The FCA imposes civil penalties for persons who make false or fraudulent claims for payments of services to the state or its political subdivisions. "It's the recovery of stolen taxpayer dollars," said Sen. Ron Latz, who championed the bill, along with fellow St. Louis Park DFLer Rep. Steve Simon. "If other states' experiences are comparable, we could be looking at tens of millions of dollars."

The Attorney General is granted the power to enforce the the act which also provides conditions under which a private plaintiff (whistleblowers) may bring actions to enforce provisions. Expenses and fees may be awarded along with the whistleblowers sharing in recoveries under the new law. The FCA provides additional protection as employers are forbidden from discriminating against employees who cooperate with investigations.

Nationally and in other states, claims have recovered large sums of money for the government and also straightened out numerous examples of fraud upon the government. Hopefully the act won't be needed very often, but if it is, the new law gives the state another weapon against fraud.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Bryant

Make Sure You Read Your Applications For Insurance

Mike Bryant — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:11:00 GMT

There are two times when insurance companies are very interested in the activities of those they insure. They are very interested in ensuring that the premiums get paid and they are again very interested when asked to pay out. Make sure you put your utmost interest in filling out the application.

Don't except advice from agents who act like the application isn't important. Also make sure you think through each question. We see this every once in awhile when a person is denied medical coverage, disability benefits, or life insurance. Sometimes the companies yell fraud, but usually it's just a simple denial, even over a little mistake.

I got thinking about this as I read about a woman who lost out on unemployment benefits after she hadn't disclosed that she had bought with depression. She hadn't filled out her employment application with the information. She was later fired and barred from all coverages.

If you have a dispute over coverage seek out the help of an experienced lawyer who can help you review the denial. Also do your best to review all the questions and answer them the best you can.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Bryant

Citizen Action Gets Things Done On Prevailing Wage In St Cloud

Mike Bryant — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:59:07 GMT

In 1987 the St Cloud City Council passed a resolution that on all public funded projects of 200,000 or more the federal prevailing wage must be paid. In building the St Cloud Library this was not done. Question started being asked and a letter to the Editor was written last week concerning the issue.

As a result Cold Spring Electric Service Inc. paid more than $25,000 it owed to employees as a correction. The owner has indicated that he was not aware of the condition on the project. This is public action that got the law followed.

For the workers, they got paid what the law required. For those involved in these type of projects, it's a reminder of what's required. For everyone this is an example of one letter making a difference.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Bryant