The U.S. Supreme Courton Friday unanimously ruledthat reimbursement requests filed with the federal E-rate program, which subsidizes internet access for schools and libraries, qualify as claims under the False Claims Act, allowing a whistleblower suit to proceed against a telecommunications company.
Whistleblower Todd Heath alleged in 2008 that telecommunications provider Wisconsin Bell overcharged schools and libraries by not offering them discounted rates required under the E-rate program and submitting reimbursement requests for higher amounts than E-rate should have paid. The False Claims Act allows civilians to bring lawsuits against companies on behalf of the government when federal money is at stake.
From early learning to high school, the pandemic impacted equity at all levels of K-12, from persistent and widening achievement gaps to uneven access to school meals.
E-rate is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Co. under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission. Wisconsin Bell argued that because the Universal Service Administrative Co. is a private, nonprofit corporation and program money comes from fees collected by service providers, its reimbursement requests didn’t qualify as claims under the False Claims Act.
Under that law, a request for money qualifies as a claim if the government “provides or has provided any portion of the money or property requested or demanded.”Justice Elena...
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