Sometimes, employees Indiana are fired for doing something they feel is ethically right. One individual in another state recently said he faced this scenario after finding evidence that his department was under-invoicing. The man, a planning official, has thus filed a wrongful termination suit against his employer.
The man said that he discovered a memo that indicated that a developer paid a $614.25 invoice when the invoice was really supposed to be $600,250. After that, his work environment reportedly became hostile, and his professional judgment began to be questioned. The man cooperated with investigators who looked into this criminal matter, which led to the impaneling of a grand jury. A former leader over the department ended up being indicted on charges of both felony and misdemeanor perjury.
The plaintiff said he was later fired after having served in his role for 10 years. He said his termination was based on trumped-up charges and that he had never really believed the information he saw in the memo, but he was still suspicious about this document. According to the suit, the man did infer that somebody had personally benefited from the under-invoicing.
An individual in Indiana may be legally protected as a whistleblower if this person, acting in good faith, suspects that his or her company is not complying with the law. Every case of this nature is different, and the process for addressing it can be complex. An applied understanding of related laws might improve an individual’s chances of prevailing in a wrongful termination case.
Source: nwfdailynews.com, “Planning official claims wrongful termination“, Tom McLaughlin Northwest, Sept. 18, 2015
