Joanna Szabo  |  July 21, 2016

Category: Labor & Employment

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man in suit searching internet for whistleblowerA former employee for Zimmer Biomet Inc. is now suing the company for $15 million, claiming that the company fired him after acting as a whistleblower in a previous lawsuit.

In the original whistleblower testimony, Dominick P. reported on a doctor within Zimmer who was allegedly performing unnecessary knee replacement surgeries and using a medical device without FDA approval.

He was fired shortly after he gave his testimony.

In this new lawsuit, the plaintiff claims that Zimmer fired him as a retaliation tactic for speaking up about the doctor in his original whistleblower lawsuit.

“On June 15, 2015, Zimmer terminated [Dominick’s] employment in retaliation for his whistleblowing activities (including his providing testimony before a grand jury) regarding what he reasonably believed to be illegal conduct by Company Y, one of Zimmer’s largest customers, and one of Company Y’s doctors, Dr. X,” reads the complaint.

The complaint goes on to explain that Dr. X and Company Y’s real names are left out in fear of further retaliation against Dominick for including them in this new lawsuit.

Dominick worked at Zimmer for a quarter of a century. During his time with Zimmer, he worked as a trauma consultant in 1989 and then worked his way through the company ranks to become the head of a five-person sales representative team in 2012. He received a number of awards for his work during this time.

Zimmer addressed the issue of whistleblowing and reports by instituting a new code of conduct in 2007. The code of conduct described the company way of reporting such federal compliance issues.

That same year, Dominick reported noticing that Dr. X was performing many more than the average number of double knee replacements.

For these procedures, he used the OtisKnee, a product that had not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Later, the product was denied FDA approval altogether.

According to the company code of conduct, Dominick got his supervisor’s permission to go to the FBI with these concerns, and asked to remain anonymous. The FBI agent told him, however, that the report couldn’t go forward if he remained anonymous, so the report stalled.

Between 2008 and 2012, Dominick reported Dr. X’s actions multiple times, the complaint alleges. In February 2015, he finally received a subpoena calling him before a grand jury, where he testified.

He received approval from Zimmer management before testifying, however, fearing retaliation and wanting to fully comply with company guidelines and wishes.

Shortly after his testimony, in May 2015, a Zimmer attorney told Dominick that both Company Y and its CEO were threatening to sue over the anonymous letter he had originally written over the alleged violations.

The Zimmer in-house attorney chastised him, the complaint says, over the potential cost of such litigation.

Immediately after he spoke with the attorney, the same day, he was told that both he and his son (who worked on his sales team) were suspended from working. Dominick was suspended from work without pay the following day, and was then fired mid-June.

According to the complaint, he was offered a severance pay of less than a year.

According to the complaint, he was told that if the company later found that he had failed to disclose code of conduct violations or legal violations during his time working for Zimmer, he would be required to return this severance payment.

The complaint notes the hypocrisy of the severance requirement, calling it “inexplicable” and “mind-boggling.”

“Zimmer fired [Dominick] because he did exactly what that clause indicated he was supposed to do — disclose violations of applicable law and/or Zimmer’s code of conduct,” the complaint reads.

Dominick’s lawsuit requests compensatory damages of at least $5 million and punitive damages of at least $10 million over wrongful discharge, slander per se, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

File a Whistleblower Lawsuit

The federal government relies on the help of whistleblowers in companies across the country to report and expose fraud and violations of the law.

In a large company, it is possible that for a time, nobody knows exactly what anyone else is doing and whether or not it complies with guidelines.

Therefore, when someone does notice a potential issue, it is essential that they act to report violations.

When making a whistleblower claim, stand firm and strong, employees can be afraid of retaliation from their employer. However, there are actually whistleblower protection laws in place to prevent such discriminatory actions from happening, and to defend whistleblowers if they do.

Because of the important role of a whistleblower in exposing fraud against the government, the whistleblower is usually awarded a substantial chunk of the whistleblower lawsuit settlement money. This is often between 15 and 30 percent.

If you believe that your current or former employer is acting fraudulently against the federal government, you may be able to call attention to this problem by filing a whistleblower lawsuit.

The Zimmer Whistleblower Lawsuit is Case No. 5:16-cv-03526, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In general, whistleblower and qui tam lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions. Whistleblowers can only join this investigation if they are reporting fraud against the government, meaning that the government must be the victim, and that the alleged fraud should be a substantial loss of money.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual qui tam lawsuit or whistleblower class action lawsuit is best for you. Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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Join a Free Whistleblower, Qui Tam Lawsuit Investigation

If you believe that you have witnessed fraud committed against the government, you may have a legal claim. Whistleblowers can only join this investigation if they are reporting fraud against the government, meaning that the government must be the victim, and that the alleged fraud should be a substantial loss of money.

See if you qualify to pursue compensation and join a whistleblower lawsuit investigation by submitting your information for a free case evaluation.

An attorney will contact you if you qualify to discuss the details of your potential case.

Please Note: If you want to participate in this investigation, it is imperative that you reply to the law firm if they call or email you. Failing to do so may result in you not getting signed up as a client, if you qualify, or getting you dropped as a client.

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Please note: Top Class Actions is not a settlement administrator or law firm. Top Class Actions is a legal news source that reports on class action lawsuits, class action settlements, drug injury lawsuits and product liability lawsuits. Top Class Actions does not process claims and we cannot advise you on the status of any class action settlement claim. You must contact the settlement administrator or your attorney for any updates regarding your claim status, claim form or questions about when payments are expected to be mailed out.