Yes, but, read on.
There is no absolute bar against Government
employees or former employees from bringing a qui tam action under
the False Claims Act. However, the Department of Justice does not
support such actions and makes them very difficult to pursue.
Judges also seem to dislike Government employee cases, especially
when the False Claims Act violations came to the attention of the
Government worker in the course of his regular job duties.
Twisting other provisions of the False Claims Act to somehow
apply, the courts have tended to dismiss the cases where the relator's Government job duties included investigating and
reporting fraud.
If you are a federal Government employee and are considering
filing a qui tam action, you should read these cases to get an
idea of how
such whistleblowers have been treated by the courts:
United States
ex rel. Williams v. NEC Corp., 931 F.2d 193 (11th Cir. 1991);
United States ex rel. Hagood v. Sonoma County Water Agency, 929
F.2d 1416 (9th Cir. 1991);
United States ex rel. Erickson v.
American Institute of Biological Sciences, 716 F. Supp. 908 (E.D.
Va. 1989).
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