Half of my whistleblower cases started life as an employment-law claim – typically, the client is distressed by dishonesty in the workplace and reports it to a superior. Contrary to expectations, the good guy is fired.
Instead of having a problem with dishonesty at work, you now have a bigger, more immediate problem: unemployment. So, you ask advice from an employment lawyer. The employment lawyer files an employment claim which is not necessarily wrong – but both the client and the lawyer have overlooked the fraud that caused the problem in the first place. This is “the Big Picture” problem.
Why is it a problem? Because, even if you win your employment-law case, you miss out on the much bigger claim under the False Claims Act and/or other whistleblower laws.
Sometimes the problem can be undone. If you have been fired or targeted at work, think twice. You may possess information of far, far greater value than you could possibly know.