An employer retaliation lawsuit filed against Penn State University was recently cleared for trial after a motion to stay was shot down.

The employer retaliation lawsuit accuses Penn State University of firing one of their assistant football coaches for acting as a whistleblower in a separate scandal, thereby breaking the laws put in place to protect whistleblowers from employer retaliation.

The whistleblower lawsuit in question involved Jerry Sandusky’s sex crimes.

The whistleblower responsible for notifying the school of these crimes was fired from his job as an assistant football coach, allegedly because of his role as whistleblower.

Since being fired, the plaintiff, Michael M., has faced difficulties finding employment after he blew the whistle on the scandal.

Senior Judge Thomas Gavin shot down the motion to stay from Penn State.

The judge also noted that the cases against the two administrators who failed to report the scandal may even continue for years in the future, which could drastically affect the life and work of the whistleblower.

“I believe it safe to assume that he is suffering ongoing economic harm. Economic harm is a recognizable form of prejudice,” the judge said in his opinion. “The fact that plaintiff must self-fund this litigation, while Penn State’s proposed witnesses can litigate at Penn State’s expense means [Curley and Schultz] will be unavailable until the termination of their criminal cases either by a favorable jury verdict or exhaustion of their appeal rights.”

The plaintiff first filed his employer retaliation lawsuit against Penn State back in October 2012.

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was first forced to take administrative leave and was later fired after blowing the whistle on Sandusky.

The plaintiff is seeking over $4 million in compensation for lost wages and emotional distress, the university stated.

According to his testimony, the plaintiff had witnessed Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator for the Penn State football team, involved in “highly inappropriate and illegal sexual conduct” with a boy in a locker room on campus way back in February 2001.

According to the plaintiff’s whistleblower lawsuit, he reported what he had witnessed to university officials, including the two administrators, Schultz and Curley, implicated in the lawsuit.

The plaintiff noted that though the pair had said they would investigate this serious matter, they failed to do so.

However, because of this misrepresentation of Schultz and Curley’s intentions to pursue the matter, the plaintiff did not report the incident separately to law enforcement officials.

Filing an Employer Retaliation Lawsuit

Many employees choose to come forward as whistleblowers because they do not feel right about their employer’s actions.

A whistleblower lawsuit can be filed while working at the company, but can also be filed after having left the company.

If you believe you have witnessed some kind of fraud or illegal conduct by your current or former employer against the government, you may be able to file a whistleblower lawsuit (also known as a qui tam lawsuit) against your employer on behalf of the government.

If, after filing a whistleblower lawsuit, your employer lashes out by suspending, firing, or otherwise punishing you, you may be able to file an employer retaliation lawsuit.

The Penn State Whistleblower Lawsuit is Case No. 2012-1804, in the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County, Pennsylvania.