A noose is placed on a desk or a chair, or on a door or in a locker. The symbolism is clear. Nooses in the workplace are meant to intimidate because of race. The noose of the hangman is meant to be a frightening visual representation of the harassment that included thousands of black people who died at the hands of lynch mobs following the civil war and on into the twentieth century. This history has led to symbolic use of a noose. It has long been a tool of various hate groups. The turning up of nooses in the workplace has been having an affect on black employees, and that affect has been spilling over to affect other minorities.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) officials and law enforcement officials report on this trend. While companies routinely try to settle nooses in the workplace cases out of court, the EEOC are always pursuing dozens of such cases. The EEOC point out that, when in seen light of their overall caseload, these cases are disproportionally high. The EEOC maintains that nooses in the workplace is a growing trend.
Every case of nooses in the workplace has its own distinctive characteristics, but there seem to be elements common to most of the cases brought forward. The noose is almost never the only method of intimidation. Racist slurs, racial epithets, racist jokes, racist graffiti and other ongoing intimidation and harassment usually accompany the noose.
No one knows for sure why these racist incidents have risen lately. Some discrimination attorneys have speculated that there may be a growing intolerance by younger workers not familiar with the civil rights movement and struggles of the 1950’s and 1960’s. The incident may grow out of resentment of some whites over the implementation of affirmative action resulting in diverse workplaces where blacks and minorities were previously excluded.
Another reason cited for the rise in such incidents reported to EEOC is a growing number of employers fighting it in court. Some employers are referring to the incidents as banter and horseplay between employees without harmful intentions.
There have been some accusations of minority workers filing false claims for purpose of collecting money. Employment and discrimination attorneys generally agree that a false claim of racially related harassment, violence and misconduct in the workplace is extremely rare. History has borne out that out; there have been only a handful of false claims involving nooses in the workplace. Employment and discrimination attorneys also point out that, when subjected to scrutiny, the false claims are easily brought to light.
Whistleblower Qui Tam and the Housing Market
False Claims Reform Act
Price gouging by military contractors triggered the drafting and passing of the False Claims Reform Act. This was in 1986. The legislation provided the federal government more power and tools to recover losses due to fraud against the government. The False Claims Reform Act amended the Qui Tam and provides greater financial incentives and legal protection to private citizens who, with the help of discrimination attorneys, bring suits on behalf of the government. These private individuals are commonly referred to as “whistleblowers”.
A Potential Area of Abuse
A recent trend in qui tam is in the area of mortgage and financial fraud. The stage for fraud is set when you combine the recent downturn in the economy with the deep involvement of the government in the mortgage and financial markets. We are seeing an increase in mortgage fraud and financial fraud.
The government saw the need to rescue the economy. In response, the government has invested in a number of high cost strategies. These strategies included the buying up of troubled assets from financial institutions. These assets added up to billions. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) provides mortgage insurance to lenders for more than 30% of all home mortgages. For the lender, mortgage insurance takes the risk out of the homeowner defaulting on their mortgage. As a result, some lenders have behaved badly.
A Response to the Abuse
In 2009, The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act expands the ability to report and recover fraud to the mortgage industry and housing industry. The scope of the mortgage and housing fraud is broad. Some examples of fraudulent behavior include falsification of loan documents, false appraisals and sham transactions using straw purchasers. The number of whistleblowers who have went to discrimination attorneys to report fraud in these areas has been on the rise. With increasing foreclosure rates, along with government involvement and money, potential fraud involving government funds is high. This is bound to result in continued increases in Qui Tam litigation.
What Can I Do?
As any New York discrimination attorney will tell you, under Federal law you and your job are protected for reporting fraud. You can also help hardworking taxpayers from being ripped off by corporate greed and dishonest business practices.
Your discrimination attorneys may also tell you that if you are aware of large scale fraud against the government, your reward could be in the millions of dollars. By law, you could collect between 15% and 30% of the total amount of the fraud. To date, the amount rewarded to whistleblowers has exceeded three billion dollars.