Obama Moves Out On The Union Front
Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.03.09
On January 30, 2008, President Obama issued three executive orders aimed at government contractors: (1) rescinds E.O. 13201, which required contractor to post a notice of employees' right to refuse to join a union, and substitutes a notice of rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act; (2) deems unallowable contractor costs to persuade employees to exercise or not exercise their right to organize and bargain collectively; and (3) requires successor contractors to provide a right of first refusal for service employees (as defined by the Service Contract Act) of a predecessor contractor for the same or similar services at the same location. All three executive orders will require regulations to be issued before they become effective and are more fully described in the following link: Obama Administration Issues Pro-Union Executive Orders.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
