Tenth Circuit holds that the False Claims Act protects only individuals who are employed at the time of retaliation

The Tenth Circuit held that the False Claims Act (FCA) protects only individuals who are employed at the time of the alleged retaliation. In this case, the employee left the employer complaining of what she believed were violations of the False Claims Act. She then entered into a settlement, in which she promised not to disparage her former employer. The company believed she proceeded to do just that — disparage it — and sued. She responded by, well, suing, alleging that the company’s lawsuit against her was retaliation prohibited by the FCA. The Court held that the FCA did not apply to her claims. The Court held that that FCA protects “only persons who were current employees when their employers retaliated against them.” Since, by that point, she was a former employee, she was no longer protected by the FCA; even if the company’s lawsuit were construed as retaliation, it was not retaliation prohibited by the FCA.

However, the Tenth Circuit cautioned that its ruling doesn’t mean all “former employees” lack FCA protection. Instead the question is whether the individual was employed at the time of the alleged retaliation. “If that condition is met, it doesn’t matter whether the employee remains a current employee of the employer when suing.”

Source: Potts v. Center for Excellence in Higher Education, case no 17-1143 (10th Cir. 2018)