Legal Question in Employment Law in Alabama

Re: Two jobs, one salary

There may indeed be some serious problems with what your company is doing. If they are a contractor for the federal government, they cannot double bill your time to them without serious consequences. In fact you can blow the whistle on them and receive up to 25% of the amount recovered for fraudulent billing. The law says that the company is liable for three times the amount they billed, plus a fine of up to $10,000 for each false invoice they send to the government. So if for example they overbill the government by $2,500 a month for 6 months, then they could be liable for fees to the Feds up to $105,000, and you would be entitled to up to 25% of that award, plus attorney fees.

That being said, such cases are difficult to prove. You need to get your hands on what bills they actually sent to the government. Could be a big issue though, especially if there is other government fraud going on.

You also cannot be retaliated for blowing the whistle on them. Of course you will be, but at least you'll have another claim in your lawsuit to add.

Another unrelated issue though is the number of hours you are working in these positions. Are you misclassified as exempt and not getting overtime? If you are doing both jobs, are you working 80 hour weeks? Or are you able to do both in 40 hours? Overtime cases can also be very good.

All that being said, there are precious few rights that one has in Alabama. They do not have to pay you much, and they can load you up with all sorts of responsibilities that have nothing to do with your job.

If you have any other questions send me an email at [email protected]

Sterling L. DeRamus,

Attorney at Law,

Birmingham, Alabama