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The False Claims Act does not protect employees who blow the whistle on an employer from retaliation that occurs only after they have stopped working there, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday in a case involving a former employee of a for-profit college.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit rejected Debbi Potts's claim that the CollegeAmerica chain of colleges (now owned by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education) retaliated against her for complaining to its accreditor, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, about alleged unethical business practices at CollegeAmerica's Cheyenne, Wyo., campus, which Potts directed. Potts asserted that the college had violated its accreditation standards and that her complaint to the accreditor was thus covered under the False Claims Act.
The appeals court ruled that "because Potts alleges that the Center retaliated against her after she resigned her employment," the False Claims Act's protections do not apply.
