VA Employee’s Whistleblower Reprisal Claim Barred by Immunity

Congress hasn’t expressly waived the federal government’s sovereign immunity for retaliation claims under the False Claims Act, dooming a federal employee’s lawsuit against the secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs, a federal appeals court said.

Nowhere in Section 3730 of the FCA has Congress “invited suit against the government” by a federal employee, Judge Joshua D. Dunlap said for the US Court of Appeals for First Circuit, in affirming a district court’s dismissal of Erik Sargent’s suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Sargent, an employee at the Veterans Affairs Maine Healthcare System, alleged retaliation after reporting fraudulent overtime ...