The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is expected to issue a final rule regarding the overtime provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in late 2016 that will significantly expand the number of employees eligible to receive overtime pay. The proposed rule issued in July 2015 has already prompted health care employers to proactively evaluate their compensation and employee classification practices so as not to be caught flat-footed when final rule takes effect.

The FLSA requires certain employees to be paid overtime for any hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. Employers are not required to pay overtime to all employees. Among other categories, the FLSA exempts certain “white collar” workers (e.g., executive, administrative, professional). To be exempt, employees must satisfy a “salary test” and a “duties test” which require that the employee:

• Be paid a statutory minimum salary threshold of $23,660 ($455 per week); and
• Perform certain types of “duties” (i.e., those that involve managing, supervising, or running a business; exercising discretion or independent judgment on significant matters; or performing tasks that require advanced knowledge).

The DOL has proposed to increase the salary threshold for white collar exemptions from $23,660 to $50,440. The proposed changes include a "mechanism to automatically update the salary and compensation thresholds on an annual basis using either a fixed percentile of wages or the CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers)." If the rule becomes final, employers will be required to reassess pay levels each year to determine eligibility for overtime exemptions. The initial increase to $50,440 is expected to expand overtime eligibility for nearly five million employees within the first year of enactment.

DOL also proposes to increase the salary threshold to meet the “highly compensated employee” exemption from $100,000 to $122,148, the 90th percentile for full-time salaried employees. All employees who earn less than $50,440 must be classified as non-exempt regardless of their job duties, and all employees who earn between $50,440 and $122,148 are potentially non-exempt, depending on their specific duties. DOL’s proposed rulemaking doesn’t make any changes to duties analyses for white collar exemptions.

Health care compensation analysts expect the rule change to impact mid-level administrative positions within hospitals and health systems especially: Lower-level white collar positions in support departments such as accounting, human resources and information technology are ones that are most often misclassified as exempt.

But it is important for physicians, physician assistants, nurses and other employed medical professionals to understand that they, too, may be entitled to overtime compensation, if they are made to work more than 40 hours per week and are paid a salary that is under the threshold, or are not paid a salary at all. This is the lesson that Righttime Medical Care, an operator of urgent care clinics in Maryland, learned to its dismay this past year when some of its current and former PAs and NPs sued it for unpaid overtime, and were subsequently granted class certification under the FLSA by the United States District Court.  ​

More than 40 different federal laws contain provisions that outlaw retaliation against employees who “blow the whistle” on the misconduct of their employers. Although none of them single out employees of the health care industry for special protection, a number of them are relevant to doctors, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, billing and coding specialists and other medical and administrative employees of the health care industry.  

This overview is intended to help health care whistleblowers identify when they might be victims of illegal retaliation in the workplace. It speaks at a high level, and thus does not provide an exhaustive explanation of every fact that would need to be present for an employee to make out a successful claim of retaliation under any of the laws discussed. It cannot be relied on as legal advice. Most a the laws discussed below require the filing of an administrative complaint before the filing of a lawsuit in court. Some require a plaintiff to try his or her complaint before an administrative law judge. Most prescribe a very short period in which to bring a claim. (In the case of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, as little as 30 days). You need to seek legal counsel, and fast, if you believe you are a victim of illegal retaliation and want to preserve your rights.      

False Claims Act (FCA) (31 U.S. Code § 3730)

For the most part, I've organized the laws discussed in this article alphabetically, with one exception: The False Claims Act. This law—first enacted in 1863 to combat fraud by government contractors during the Civil War—is the federal government's primary tool for combating fraud against the government.

The health care industry has become a prime target of the government’s enforcement efforts under the FCA. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created a joint task force—the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT)—to proactively find and prosecute waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid. This effort has borne fruit: Of the record-setting $5.69 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims brought by the DOJ in FY 2014 under the FCA, recoveries from false claims against federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, accounted for nearly half of that amount.

Common false claim schemes in the health care industry that violate the FCA include:

• Billing for services that have not actually been rendered
• Billing for services that have been rendered, but are medically unnecessary
• “Up-coding,” or billing for services based on an inappropriate procedural code that results in higher reimbursement than is warranted
• Billing for services and other items that are actually delivered, medically necessary and properly coded, but are delivered to a patient obtained through an illegal kickback or referral in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute or the Stark Law
• “Unbundling,” or billing for related procedures individually rather than as a group so as to avoid a prescribed group rate that is less than the sum of the individual procedures, thus artificially inflating reimbursement
• Inflating reimbursable overhead costs
• Prescribing medication for “off-label” uses. 

The FCA provides whistleblowers the opportunity to file suit on behalf of the United States against violators of the FCA. If the government intervenes in the case and recovers money through a settlement or a trial, the whistleblower (or "relator") is entitled under the FCA to 15 percent to 25 percent of the recovery. If the government doesn't intervene in the case and the whistleblower chooses to pursue it anyway, the reward is between 25 and 30 percent of the recovery.
 
The FCA creates a cause of action for any employee, contractor, or agent who is discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or in any other manner discriminated against in the terms and conditions of employment because of lawful acts done by that person (or others associated with whom that person is associated) in furtherance of a qui tam action or other efforts to stop one or more violations of the FCA. Making an internal complaint to your employer regarding suspected violations of the FCA should be enough to obtain protection.

Relief available to an aggrieved whistleblower includes reinstatement with the same seniority status that the whistleblower would have had but for the discrimination, two times the amount of back pay, interest on the back pay, and compensation for any special damages sustained as a result of the discrimination, including litigation costs and reasonable attorneys' fees. 

Time to file a complaint: 3 years.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA); 29 U.S.C. § 623(d) 

The ADEA protects people who are 40 or older from discrimination in employment because of age. It also prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee or applicant for employment because that individual has opposed a discriminatory practice made unlawful by the ADEA, or because the individual has made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under the ADEA. The ADEA also prohibits such actions when committed by an employment agency against any individual, and by a labor organization against a member or applicant for membership. 

Time to file complaint: 180 days.
 
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); 42 U.S.C. § 12203(a)

The ADA requires that employers reasonably accommodate the known physical or mental limitations of an otherwise qualified individual with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer's business. The ADA also prohibits discrimination against any individual because he or she has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by the ADA or because such individual made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under the ADA. 

Time to file a complaint: 180 days.

Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA); 29 U.S.C. § 2002(4)

The EPPA generally prevents employers from using lie detector tests for prescreening or during the course of employment (with some exceptions for certain industries and federal, state and local government). The EPPA prohibits an employer from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee or prospective employee because such individual (1) has filed a complaint, or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to the EPPA; (2) has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding; or (3) has exercised any right afforded by the EPPA. 

Time to file a complaint: 3 years.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); 29 U.S.C. § 1140 
ERISA prohibits any person from discharging, fining, suspending, expelling, disciplining, or discriminating against a participant or beneficiary for (1) exercising any right to which he or she is entitled under the provisions of an employee benefit plan, section 1201 of title 29, U.S. Code, or the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act; or (2) giving information, testifying, or being about to testify in any inquiry or proceeding related to ERISA or the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act. In the case of a multiemployer plan, it is unlawful for the plan sponsor or any other person to discriminate against any contributing employer for exercising rights under ERISA or for giving information or testifying in any inquiry or proceeding before Congress related to ERISA. 

Time to file a complaint: Depends. ERISA doesn’t provide a limitations period for retaliation claims, so a court will typically the state law limitations period corresponding to wrongful termination or retaliatory discharge, and sometimes the limitations period that benefits plan sponsors include in their benefit plan documents and summary plan descriptions. 

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3); 29 U.S.C. § 218(c)(a)

The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. The FLSA prohibits an employer from discharging or otherwise discriminating against an employee because such employee filed a complaint or instituted any proceeding under the statute, testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, or served or is about to serve on an industry committee. 

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) amended the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to provide additional protections for employees. Under the new section 18(c) of the FLSA, an employer is prohibited from discharging or otherwise discriminating against any employee because he or she has (1) received a premium tax credit or cost-sharing subsidy under the ACA; (2) provided, caused to be provided, or is about to provide or cause to be provided to the employer, the federal government, or a state attorney general information related to any violation of, or any act or omission the employee reasonably believes to be a violation of, any provision of title 29 of the U.S. Code (which contains federal employment and labor laws); (3) testified or is about to testify in a proceeding concerning such a violation; (4) assisted or participated in, or is about to assist or participate in, such a proceeding; or (5) objected to, or refused to participate in any activity, policy, practice, or assigned task that employee reasonably believed to be in violation or any provision of title 29 of the U.S. Code, or any order, rule, regulation, standard, or ban under such title. 29 U.S.C. § 218c(a).

Health care professionals are usually exempt from the protections of the FLSA under the executive, administrative or professional exemptions that exist under Section 13(a)(1) and regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Labor—but not always. For example, non-physician medical professionals who are paid by the hour rather than paid a salary may be entitled to overtime wages under the FLSA. 

Time to file a complaint: 2 years; 3 years for a “willful” violation; for section 18 (c) violations, 180 days.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); 29 U.S.C. § 2615

The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. The FMLA prohibits an employer from discharging or otherwise discriminating against any individual because he or she (1) has opposed any practice made unlawful by the FMLA; (2) has filed a charge, or instituted or caused to be instituted any proceeding under or related to the FMLA; (3) has given or is about to give any information in connection with any inquiry or proceeding related to any right provided under the FMLA; or (4) has testified or is about to testify in any inquiry or proceeding related to any right provided under the FMLA. 

Time to file a complaint: 2 years; 3 years for a “willful” violation.

Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA); 42 U.S. Code § 2000ff–6

GINA prohibits group health plans and health insurers from denying coverage to a healthy individual or charging that person higher premiums based solely on a genetic predisposition to developing a disease in the future. It also prohibits employers from using individuals' genetic information when making hiring, firing, job placement, or promotion decisions. GINA also outlaws discrimination against any individual who has opposed any act or practice made unlawful by GINA or because such individual made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing relating to GINA. 

Time to file a complaint: 180 days.

National Labor Relations Act (NLRA); 29 U.S.C. § 158(a)(4) 

The NLRA is a foundational statute of US labor law which guarantees basic rights of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining for better terms and conditions at work, and take collective action including strike if necessary. The act also created the National Labor Relations Board, which conducts elections that can require employers to engage in collective bargaining with labor unions. 

The Act does not apply to workers who are covered by the Railway Labor Act, agricultural employees, domestic employees, supervisors, federal, state or local government workers, independent contractors and some close relatives of individual employers. Employed physicians are not barred from engaging in protected collective bargaining activities under the NLRA, but the fact that managers and supervisors are not regarded as “employees” under the NLRA often prevents physicians from enjoying its protections. 

Under section 8(a)(4) of the NLRA, it is an unfair labor practice for an employer to discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee because he or she has filed charges or given testimony under the NLRA.

Time to file a complaint: 180 days.

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act); 29 U.S.C. §660(c) 

The OSH Act prohibits an employer from discharging or in any manner discriminating against an employee because such employee filed a complaint or instituted or caused to be instituted a proceeding under the OSH Act, or has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, or exercises any right or protection afforded by the OSH Act.

OSHA has issued standards for many common workplace health and safety risks in healthcare facilities, including blood-borne pathogens, ionizing radiation, and laboratory chemicals. In 2013, U.S. hospitals recorded nearly 58,000 work-related injuries and illnesses, amounting to 6.4 work-related injuries and illnesses for every 100 full-time employees—almost twice as high as the overall rate for private industry. In the summer of 2015, OSHA announced that it is expanding its use of enforcement resources in hospitals and nursing homes to focus on musculoskeletal disorders related to patient or resident handling, blood-borne pathogens, workplace violence, tuberculosis and slips, trips and falls.

Time to file a complaint: 30 days.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII); 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-3

Title VII prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating against any employee or applicant for employment because he or she has (1) opposed any practice made an unlawful employment practice by Title VII; or (2) made a charge, testified, assisted, or participated in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under Title VII. Title VII also prohibits such actions when committed by an employment agency or joint labor-management committee against an individual, or labor organization against a member or applicant for membership.

Time to file a complaint: 180 days (up to 300 days in some states, including Maryland and the District of Columbia).

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX); 18 U.S.C. § 1514A

This statute will only apply if you work for a health care provider that is traded on a stock exchange, or is owned by, or owned in common with, a publicly-traded company.  SOX prohibits publicly traded companies, including any subsidiaries or affiliates whose financial information is included in the consolidated financial statements of such companies, and nationally recognized statistical rating organizations from discharging, demoting, suspending, threatening, harassing, or in any other manner discriminating against an employee because such employee provided information, caused information to be provided, otherwise assisted in an investigation, or filed, testified, or participated in a proceeding regarding any conduct that the employee reasonably believes is a violation of SOX, any SEC rule or regulation, or any federal statute relating to fraud against shareholders, when the information or assistance is provided to a federal regulatory or law enforcement agency, any Member or committee of Congress, or a person with supervisory authority over the employee or investigative authority for the employer, regarding any violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 (mail fraud), 1343 (wire fraud), 1344 ( bank fraud), 1348 (securities fraud against shareholders), or any SEC rule or regulation, or any other federal law regarding fraud against shareholders.

Time to file a complaint: 180 days.

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA); 38 U.S.C. § 4311(b)

The purpose of USERRA is to protect civilian job rights and benefits for veterans, members of reserve components, and individuals activated by the President of the United States to provide federal response for national emergencies. USERRA prohibits an employer from discriminating or taking any adverse employment action against any person because such person has (1) taken an action to enforce a protection afforded by the statute; (2) testified or otherwise made a statement in or in connection with any proceeding under USERRA; (3) has assisted or otherwise participated in an investigation under USERRA; or (4) has exercised a right provided by USERRA.

​Time to file a complaint: No limit.

Let’s say that you’re a registered nurse, employed at a hospice in Montgomery County, Maryland. Pain management being an important part of hospice care, your employer often dispenses high-power, potentially dangerous narcotics to its patients. The problem is, it has recently started providing narcotics to patients without a physician’s order. 

Eventually, you come to find out that narcotics are sometimes even being dispensed to individuals who aren’t patients of the hospice at all. You learn that "starter packs" of medications, containing adult doses of narcotics, have been ordered for every patient—including your employer’s pediatric patients, some of whom live in homes with many children and with little supervision in the house. 

Naturally, you’re alarmed. You recognize the danger to public safety posed by your employer’s reckless dispensation practices. You believe that, as a registered nurse, you have a legal duty to say something. You send an email to your supervisor describing these lapses. Shortly thereafter, you’re fired. 

Do you have a claim for wrongful termination?

The story above isn’t hypothetical. It’s a very short summary of the allegations made by the plaintiff in Lark v. Montgomery Hospice, Inc., 414 Md. 215 (2010). In Lark, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court, which had dismissed Susan Lark’s claim of wrongful termination under the Maryland Health Care Worker Whistleblower Protection Act, and reinstated her claim against her former employer.  

The Health Care Worker Whistleblower Protection Act (the “Act”) is codified under Sections 1-501 through 1-505 of the Health Occupations Article of the Maryland Code. Any employed professional who is licensed by a professional board under the Health Occupations Article is entitled to protection under the Act. This includes, but is not limited to:

·         Physicians

·         Physician Assistants

·         Nurses

·         Chiropractors

·         Podiatrists

·         Pharmacists

·         Physical therapists

·         Psychologists and

·         Dentists.

Under the Act, an employer may not take or refuse to take any personnel action as reprisal against an employee because the employee:

   (1) Discloses or threatens to disclose to a supervisor or board an activity, policy, or practice of the employer which is in violation of a law, rule, or regulation;

   (2) Provides information to or testifies before any public body conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry into any violation of a law, rule, or regulation by the employer; or

   (3) Objects to or refuses to participate in any activity, policy, or practice which is in violation of a law, rule, or regulation.

Unfortunately, the scope of the Act’s protection is more limited than one might wish. In order for an employee’s disclosure to an employer’s activity, policy or practice to be protectable, that activity, policy, or practice must pose a “substantial and specific danger to the public health or safety.” So if, for example, the violation disclosed by the employee relates to fraudulent Medicaid billing, the employee’s reporting activity with respect to that violation would not be protected under the Act. 

Moreover, although Maryland enacted a Health Care False Claims Act in 2010, which outlaws false and fraudulent claims under any State health plan or program—and which contains an anti-retaliation provision for employees and others who disclose or oppose activities which they reasonably violate that law—professional employees who are covered under the Health Care Worker Whistleblower Protection Act cannot bring claims of retaliation under the Health Care False Claims Act. Thus, doctors, nurses and most other employed healthcare professionals (who are often in the best position to prevent and detect healthcare fraud) are not protected from retaliation for reporting suspected violations of the Health Care False Claims Act unless those suspected violations pose a danger to public health and safety, and are therefore covered under the Whistleblower Protection Act.[1] 

To claim protection under the Act, a healthcare employee must at least report his or her suspicions internally. He or she must either:   

      (1) report the activity, policy, or practice to a supervisor or administrator of the employer in writing and afford the employer a reasonable opportunity to correct the activity, policy, or practice; or

      (2) If the employer has a corporate compliance plan specifying who to notify of an alleged violation of a rule, law, or regulation, follow the plan.

Thus, the protection provided by the Act does not extend to a former employee who made no internal report before his or her employment was terminated. In Lark, the Court of Appeals ruled that the Act does protect a former employee who was fired before he or she made an external report to a board, provided that the employee made a written report internally to a supervisor or administrator of the employer. A “supervisor” under the Act means any individual within an employer's organization who has the authority to direct and control the work performance of an employee, or who has managerial authority to take corrective action regarding the violation of a law, rule, or regulation of which the employee complains.

An employee bringing an action under the Act may recover lost wages, benefits, and other compensatory damages. An employer who has been terminated in violation of the Act is also entitled to reinstatement to the same or an equivalent position held before the violation, as well as the removal of any adverse personnel record entries based on or related to the violation and the reinstatement of full fringe benefits and seniority rights. If the employee prevails, a court may also assess reasonable attorney's fees and other litigation expenses against the employer. 

Under the Act, an employer has an affirmative defense if the personnel action complained of was based on grounds other than the employee's exercise of any rights protected by the Act. What this means in a “mixed motive” case, where an employer terminates an employee not only for her reporting activity under the Act but also for legitimate, performance-related concerns, is not clear. The Court of Appeals hasn’t yet been presented with an opportunity to interpret the Act’s “other grounds” defense. However, in other cases involving termination in violation of public policy, the Court of Appeals has ruled that an employee need only persuade a jury that his or her protected activity played a “motivating part” in the employer’s decision to terminate her; the employee is not required to prove that, but for engaging in the protected activity, she would not have been discharged. Ruffin Hotel Corporation of Maryland, Inc. v. Gasper, 418 Md. 594, 686 (2011). One would hope that the Court of Appeals would adopt this less stringent standard for claims arising under the Act, as well.

[1]This gap in protection may have been fixed this year. In February of 2015, Maryland enacted a more comprehensive False Claims Act that protects employees, contractors and grantees from retaliation for disclosing or opposing an activity, policy or practice which that person reasonably believes violates that law—which would include the making of false and fraudulent claims for payment to the State or any county. MD GEN PROVIS § 8-101 et seq. Importantly, healthcare professionals are not excluded from protection under this statute. 

David M. Briglia is an attorney who represents physicians, physician assistants, nurses and other healthcare professionals who have been fired, harassed or demoted for reporting fraud, illegal activity, discrimination and other misconduct. The Law Office of David M. Briglia serves doctors and other healthcare professionals in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, including Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Rockville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Columbia, Baltimore, Annapolis and Frederick, and throughout Montgomery County, Prince George's County, Howard County, Anne Arundel County, Calvert County and Baltimore County. You can reach the firm at 240-482-0581.This blog is intended for informational purposes only and cannot be relied upon as legal advice.