False Claims Act and Qui Tam Whistleblower Protection
The False Claims Act: Suing on the Government's Behalf
Why It Exists
Congress passed the False Claims Act in 1863, during the Civil War, in response to defense contractors selling defective supplies and equipment to the Union Army. Sometimes called the “Lincoln Law,” it was designed to harness the self-interest of insiders — people with direct knowledge of fraud — to help root out schemes the government might never detect on its own. After a period of reduced use, Congress significantly strengthened the law in 1986, increasing the financial incentives for whistleblowers and adding the anti-retaliation protection described below. The law has only grown more active since: fiscal year 2025 saw a record 1,297 qui tam lawsuits filed, with government recoveries exceeding $6.8 billion.
What It Prohibits
The False Claims Act covers knowingly submitting, or causing someone else to submit, a false or fraudulent claim for payment from the government, or knowingly making a false statement material to such a claim. In practice, this covers a wide range of conduct, including:
- Overbilling Medicare or Medicaid, or billing for services that were never actually provided.
- Government contractors inflating hours, headcounts, or material costs.
- Falsely certifying compliance with a contract term, law, or regulation that wasn’t actually met.
- Financial kickbacks exchanged between healthcare providers.
- Research institutions falsifying data on federally funded grants.
- Misrepresenting a product’s origin or classification to evade tariffs.
The Process: Filing a Qui Tam Action
“Qui tam” comes from a Latin phrase roughly meaning “who sues on behalf of the King as well as for himself” — a whistleblower under this law, called a “relator,” is doing exactly that. The process has several distinctive features:
- Filed under seal. Your complaint is filed under seal in federal court, meaning it stays confidential — the defendant doesn’t even know the case exists — while the government investigates.
- Disclosed only to the government. A copy of the complaint, along with a written disclosure of your supporting evidence, goes confidentially to the U.S. Attorney General and the relevant U.S. Attorney’s office, not to the public or the defendant.
- The government’s choice: intervene or decline. The government then decides whether to intervene — taking over the litigation itself — or decline, in which case you can still proceed with the case on your own, with your own attorney. Historically, the government intervenes in roughly a quarter to a third of qui tam cases, and intervened cases account for the large majority of total dollars recovered.
Two Important Limitations Worth Knowing About
- The first-to-file rule. If another whistleblower has already filed a qui tam complaint based on the same underlying facts, you generally cannot bring a separate action covering the same allegations — timing genuinely matters here.
- The public disclosure bar. If the fraud you’re aware of has already been publicly disclosed — in a congressional hearing, a government audit or report, a news article, or certain court filings — you generally cannot bring a qui tam suit based on that same information, unless you qualify as the “original source” of the disclosure.
Remedies (The Reward)
If your case succeeds, the defendant can be liable for treble (triple) damages, plus a per-claim civil penalty that adjusts periodically for inflation, historically in the range of roughly $5,000 to over $20,000 per false claim — which can add up dramatically across large-scale fraud involving many individual claims.
As the relator, you’re entitled to a meaningful share of whatever the government recovers:
- 15% to 25%, if the government intervenes and takes over the case, with the exact percentage depending on how substantially you contributed to the case’s success.
- 25% to 30%, if the government declines to intervene and you pursue the case on your own.
Your share can be reduced, or eliminated entirely, if you personally planned or initiated the underlying fraud, or if you’re convicted of criminal conduct related to it — though notably, the law does not automatically bar you from serving as a relator just because you were involved in the conduct in some way.
The Anti-Retaliation Provision
Beyond the qui tam mechanism itself, the False Claims Act includes its own separate anti-retaliation provision, protecting employees, contractors, and agents from being discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or otherwise discriminated against for taking action in furtherance of a False Claims Act matter — including investigating potential fraud, testifying, or assisting in a qui tam case, whether or not you personally filed one.
Importantly, you don’t need to prove that fraud actually occurred to win a retaliation claim — only that you had a good-faith, reasonable belief that fraud was occurring, consistent with the reasonable belief standard described on our Whistleblower Protection overview. If retaliation occurred, remedies include reinstatement, twice your back pay plus interest, compensation for other damages, and attorney’s fees and litigation costs.
Talk to a False Claims Act Attorney
Qui tam cases are complex, often take years, and involve real strategic decisions from the moment you consider filing — including how the first-to-file rule and public disclosure bar might affect your specific situation. Wilkenfeld Law Office can help you understand whether you have a viable claim.
Or call 301.245.3035 · Intake@WilkenfeldLO.com