The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to settle a split among federal appeal courts on whether former employees are covered by whistleblower anti-retaliation protections contained in the False Claims Act, in United States ex rel. David Felten v. William Beaumont Hosp.
In March 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the FCA’s anti-retaliation provision also protects former employees alleging post-termination retaliation, reasoning that otherwise companies could retaliate against employees without repercussion as long as they fired them first. This created a split with the Tenth Circuit, which has held the FCA “unambiguously excludes relief for retaliatory acts occurring after the employee has left employment.”
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