Archived Webinar:
Unprecedented Whistleblower Provisions Created by the ARRA (aka "Stimulus Bill")!
Are you one of the thousands of companies receiving stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)? Do you fully understand the impact the much-extended reach of the whistleblower provisions has on your compliance program? Join Frank C. Morris, Jr., Esquire, as he provides key insights into compliance with the sweeping whistleblower provisions and new level of accountability applicable to a broad range of recipients of covered funds.
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Presenters
- Frank Morris, Jr., Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
Full Event Description
Title:Unprecedented Whistleblower Provisions Created by the ARRA (aka "Stimulus Bill")!
Date: April 28, 2009
Who shoud attend: Executives and Senior Management in the areas of: Compliance, Finance, Legal, Human Resources, Auditing, and Risk Management.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“ARRA”) has created unprecedented whistleblower provisions that require the attention of every recipient of covered funds. While whistleblower provisions of existing laws have embraced fraud, abuse and unlawful conduct, ARRA goes much further. It extends to alleged gross mismanagement of a contract or related to stimulus funds, gross waste of such funds or abuse of authority related to use of stimulus funds, creating a substantial danger to public health or safety, or violation of any law or regulation relating to stimulus funds.
A whistleblower need have only a “reasonable belief” of an ARRA violation. The whistleblower is protected from any action that would dissuade a reasonable person from blowing the whistle on an ARRA violation. The whistleblower can prevail initially by showing that his/her protected conduct was merely a “contributory factor” to a retaliatory act. And ARRA states that knowledge of protected activity and temporal proximity will establish that the protected activity was a contributory factor requiring the employer to disprove the claim by “clear and convincing” evidence. The whistleblower damages available include compensatory damages and there are no express caps or limitations.
Entities faced with the unprecedentedly broad acts that provide the basis for an ARRA whistleblower claim need first to understand the reach of ARRA, its unusual enforcement scheme and the potential impact on any recipient of stimulus funds. They then need to assess their current compliance policies, programs and reporting mechanisms in light of ARRA. The program will provide the necessary knowledge to do so and to begin to craft proactive tailored steps to assure compliance and avoidance of costly ARRA whistleblower claims.
Learning Outcomes:
- Assess whether your organization is covered by ARRA.
- Evaluate the unique allegations that can come under the ARRA whistleblower disclosure provisions.
- Develop an appreciation of the numerous entities to which a whistleblower may make a protected disclosure.
- Evaluate the extreme challenges in managing an ARRA whistleblower who remains employed.
- Assess whether existing compliance and reporting policies, programs and mechanisms are sufficient given the unprecedented sweep of ARRA.
- Develop additional compliance program features to detect not only fraud but mismanagement and situations creating public danger or violations of regulations and to promote internal reporting.
- Develop a Rapid Response Plan for addressing any ARRA issues or actual ARRA whistleblower complaints.
Speaker Biographies
Frank Morris, Jr., Esquire, Senior Shareholder Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
Frank C. Morris, Jr. is a member of the national firm of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., and heads the Labor, Employment and Disability practice in the Washington, D.C. office. His practice includes advising private and public sector clients and litigating employment, whistleblower, labor, disability, non-compete, confidentiality, benefits, information access and privacy law matters in the state and federal courts and administrative agencies. He actively represents clients in negotiations, arbitrations and mediations and has also served as a mediator in a number of matters. He has been active in Whistleblower, Electronic Platform, Internet, Email and Cellphone policy development and litigation nationwide. Mr. Morris also represents a number of employers nationwide in Sarbanes-Oxley and other whistleblower complaints and litigation. He is an Honors graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Virginia Law School and is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at George Washington University. He has spoken to the Judicial Workshops for the federal judges of the Third, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits. Among other honros, Mr. Morris was selected again in 2009 as a Washington, D.C. Superlawyer.