Approaching the Government

How Can an Attorney Help You Bring an Issue to The Government’s Attention?

An experienced attorney with knowledge of how government agencies work and think can help you frame the issues you want to bring to the government’s attention in the way best calculated to resonate with the agency in question.

The attorneys at Peters Brovner have deep experience working with multiple City, State and federal agencies and know how best to frame a case to increase the chances that the agency in question will pay attention.  To this end, they have helped multiple individuals and companies successfully bring issues to the government’s attention.

Reporting Scams & Fraud 

There are numerous agencies, including law enforcement agencies, that can investigate reports of scams and fraud, depending upon the nature of the misconduct.  These include:

• New York City’s five district attorneys’ offices
• The New York State Attorney General
• The United States Attorney’s offices for the Eastern and Southern Districts
• The New York City Department of Investigation
• The New York City and State Comptroller’s Office
• The State Inspector General
• The MTA Inspector General
• The Port Authority Inspector General.

NY Whistleblower Law

New York State’s Whistleblower protection law, codified in section 740 of the New York State Labor Law, Provides that:

An employer shall not take any retaliatory action against an employee, whether or not within the scope of the employee’s job duties, because such employee does any of the following:

(a) discloses, or threatens to disclose to a supervisor or to a public body an activity, policy or practice of the employer that the employee reasonably believes is in violation of law, rule or regulation or that the employee reasonably believes poses a substantial and specific danger to the public health or safety

(b) provides information to, or testifies before, any public body conducting an investigation, hearing or inquiry into any such activity, policy or practice by such employer

(c) objects to, or refuses to participate in any such activity, policy or practice.”

The statute provides broad protection to employees who report dangerous or illegal conduct by their employers.