U.S. Department of Labor Administrative Judge Christopher Larsen awarded Mr. Becker the funds after ruling that Mr. Becker had been “ignored, pleaded with and cajoled” to file falsified reports.
Mr. Becker sued Rockwood Clinic and its parent company Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, in 2012 after he was allegedly fired for refusing to falsify the company’s losses that year. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Becker estimated the medical center’s losses at $12.8 million, but claims officials “tried to bully him into lowering the figure to $4 million.”
The judge ruled that neither RockwoodMedicalCenter nor CHS presented information at the trial that supported the $4 million figure. Mr. Becker received $1.5 million in restitution, $15,000 for alleged damage to his reputation and legal fees and an additional $341,380 in back pay, as Mr. Becker claimed he would have likely stayed until his retirement from the medical center had it not been for the incident, according to the article.
A separate trial over Mr. Becker’s dismissal is scheduled for January.
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