The False Claims Act was amended by Congress in 2009 and its anti-retaliation provision expanded. It provides as follows:
Any employee . . . shall be entitled to all relief necessary to make [him] . . . whole, if that employee . . . is discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or in any other manner discriminated against . . . because of lawful acts done by the employee . . . in furtherance of an action under this section. 31 USC sec. 3730(h)(1).
The First Circuit ruled recently in Harrington v. Aggregate Resources, No. 11-1511 (Feb. 7, 2012), that the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework applied to retaliation claims under the False Claims Act. This was the first officially reported appellate decision on this point. The Sixth Circuit made a similar ruling in an unpublished decision, Scott v. Metro. Health Corp., 234 F.App'x 341, 346 (6th Cir. 2007).
