Wage and hour issues can become serious violations, as an Alabama hotel manager recently learned when he was held personally liable for violations to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Here’s a quick summary of the backstory: Manager is the hotel owner’s son, with no ownership in the employer’s business; the hotel clerk worked the night shift and was compensated with an hourly wage plus onsite...
A New Jersey biopharmaceutical research and clinical laboratory testing company accused of paying kickbacks to third-party marketers has agreed to pay the federal government nearly $5.4 million to settle the anti-kickback statute violations and healthcare fraud case against it. Whistleblower Case The False Claims Act complaint was filed under seal by Sunil Wadhwa and Ken Newton, co-founders of...
A Hialeah councilwoman and owner of a drug and alcohol rehab center is facing charges that she and others engaged in a healthcare kickback scheme that resulted in the submission of more than $19 million in fraudulent insurance claims. Angelica Pacheco, owner and operator of Florida Life Recovery and Rehabilitation LLC, was indicted by a Miami grand jury late last month on one count of conspiracy...
Prior to the FDA’s authorization of the four new products, the agency had denied applications for menthol-flavored vapes. Liudmila Chernetska/iStock via Getty Images ~~~~~ On June 21, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the marketing of the first electronic cigarette products in flavors other than tobacco in the U.S. Of the four new authorized products, two are sealed,...
A Florida businessman has agreed to pay more than $27 million to resolve allegations he and his companies violated the False Claims Act (FCA) by submitting false claims to and receiving payments from, Medicare for cancer genomic (CGx) tests that were not medically necessary and were obtained through illegal kickbacks. Daniel Hurt of Fort Lauderdale owned and/or operated Fountain Health Services...
The federal government in 2020 and 2023 changed who it said could safely donate organs and blood, reducing the restrictions on men who have had sex with another man. But the FDA’s restrictions on donated tissue, a catchall term encompassing everything from a person’s eyes to their skin and ligaments, remain in place. Advocates, lawmakers, and groups focused on removing barriers to cornea...
