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Sarbanes-Oxley News & Developments
Los Alamos Pays Up for Firing WhistleblowerScore: Los Alamos National Laboratory: - 0 - / Whistleblower: $1 million.
> > The University of California agreed to pay former lab investigator Glenn Walp nearly $1 million for being wrongfully fired last year. The out-of-court settlement was more than a personal victory for Walp, a former Arizona state police chief hired to look into allegations of fraud, corruption and lax security. The settlement could encourage other potential whistleblowers to step forward and speak their minds.
The lab terminated Walp and his partner, Steven Doran, in November 2002, after the pair told Energy Department officials about their ongoing investigations. Their dismissals touched off a political conflagration that quickly torched senior managers.
Lab employees were accused of using lab money to buy personal goods: gas grills, picnic tables, even a $30,000 Ford Mustang. Walp and Doran were brought in over the summer of 2002 to examine these charges. The pair quickly ran afoul with management, with Walp and Doran accusing their bosses of interfering with their investigations and stymieing the FBI with their attempts to get to the bottom of the fraud allegations.
Walp became particularly incensed when a lab worker who cashed a forged government voucher was allowed to pay back the money and retire quietly. The employee had committed federal fraud and the lab officials who authorized the deal were bordering on obstruction of justice.
The university has several other whistleblower-type cases pending in court said Oakland attorney Gary Gwilliam, who helped negotiate the settlement for Walp. The settlement for Walp was $900,000, plus 3.5 months of salary for another $30,000.
Source: Wired News
Published:2003-08-22
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