Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois
The company I work for issues wrong / incorrect / falsified testing results to its customers. It is a small business with about 40 employees; it is a metallurgical testing company located in Illinois. We test different kind of material such as steel, stainless steel, copper, brass, iron for mechanical properties, chemistry, hardness, charpy impact testing ..etc. We even perform lead testing on any type of material, along with chemical testing on certain specimens for the FDA. On many occasions I have witnessed our quality assurance manager change test results from failure to passing to accommodate customer's requirements, even though the actual results were failing. Occasionally after receiving failing results the customer would call and request a retest to be performed, but our QA manager would instruct me (I am sure other employees as well) to let the customer know the retest is in progress, to wait 2-3 hours, and report a supplemented report with passing results even though we NEVER even touched the sample nor retested it. So in this scenario the customer would believe that they are getting passing results, that their material is good and on top of that, they are paying for a retest we never performed.
I believe this falsification of data could cause dangerous situations and might ultimately kill people; the tested steel we are issuing false results for might end up being used for bridges, buildings, cars...etc. I have reported some of these incidences to one of the owners of the company, but have not received an update and I now feel that my job is on the line. Our quality assurance manager is also my supervisor and since I reported him to one of the owners, he has been extra hostile with me. I could not report the QA manager to both of the owners because one of the owners is also guilty of fixing data for specific customers; he always has some type of explanation of why the information was changed, but sometimes I'm not sure the explanation is valid because I am not an engineer.
I will be able to provide any documentation I have accumulated.
Best Regards,
1 Answer from Attorneys
Hi. This is certainly troubling to hear. I am an Illinois and Missouri-licensed attorney that handles claims in all parts of Illinois, focusing primarily on personal injury and tort claims, including fraud and misrepresentation cases. I attempt to offer some assistance on this forum whenever I can find the time, which is not terribly often these days.
The conduct that you describe may rise to the level of being intentional misrepresentation or fraud. Unlike many other types of civil claims, a case alleging fraud does not require the establishment of specific, quantifiable damages, in order to prevail. Damages are generally implied, due to the fact that consumers or others are being misled by false information. Often, punitive damages are available as well. A fraud suit can potentially result in significantly high damages, depending on the extent of the fraud, the monetary impact of the misleading acts, and the number of people affected by misleading information. The length of time that the misleading actions have been occurring for is also relevant. Additional information would be necessary to make a fact specific assessment of this situation and the likelihood of a legal suit or settlement, or other legal options that may be available. Misrepresentation, in the business context, may also violate state statutes as well.
My e-mail, for convenience, is [email protected]. Thank you very much.
NOTE: This answer is for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. The use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship or privilege between the user and the attorney responding.
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