Need Help! Engineers Looking for advice about their legal obligations to the public
At this time, we prefer not to divulge our identity or the name of our employer; however, we are engineering technicians, employed by a geosciences corporation. We have worked for our employer for twelve to eighteen months.
We are contacting you to ask if you would recommend two (2) to three (3) law firms that have experience in the field of geosciences/engineering and can practice within the southeastern region of the United States.
Our need to consult with this specifically experienced law firm is threefold: to expose our employer’s dangerously illegal, business practices that affect public safety; to get legal advice as to the severity, validity, and probability of potentially two lawsuits; and to ascertain our options, including but not limited to our personal liability with respect to one case in particular.
The first of the two aforementioned possible lawsuits primarily involves violations with testing. As you are aware, there are numerous areas in the field of geosciences that require engineering technicians to be certified prior to performing particular tests, including, even handling certain equipment in some situations, i.e. Nuclear Density Gauge for Testing of Soil, Base and Asphalt (requires radiation equipment); Concrete Reinforcing Steel Placement Testing; Welding Inspection; Evaluation of Decking Materials and Specification; etc.
Obviously, without the proper training and certification, these test results are invalid, causing structural instability; thus, eventually, these illegal tests could potentially cause the deaths of a multitude.
Although we and our peers are certified in some areas, and we have limited training or exposure prior to performing tests in other areas in which we are not certified, unfortunately, all of us (engineering technicians) are frequently required to perform tests without actually being certified, and on numerous occasions, we have literally gone in blind. Sometimes we are even forced (by our company) to make up passing numbers.
Furthermore, our lab technicians are not sufficiently certified to handle the multitude of diverse testing that is required per job specifications: however, these tests continue to be performed daily to satisfy the clients. Additionally, we are concerned about our employer’s many other nonconformities to testing standards and regulations. Again, collectively, this scenario could inevitably cost the lives of countless.
Adding insult to injury, our employer is fraudulently billing general contractors and the government for these (our) services, claiming that all of these tests are performed by qualified, certified engineering and lab technicians, when, in fact, most are not.
Our objective for exposing this information is to stop our employer from continuing to ignore this industry’s regulations, policies, and code of ethics. Tens of thousands of lives are at risk if this situation is not stopped, fined, corrected, and closely monitored in the future.
Our employer’s clientele involves some of the nation’s largest general contractors, and we presume that their association with our employer makes them equally liable and negligent, even though they may not be aware of these violations by our employer. Our employer and these general contractors have had and continue to have ongoing contracts with federal, state, and city government. Job sites include military bases, energy plants, infrastructures, public schools, etc., in multiple states.
During our employment, we have been privy to and have witnessed these violations by peer employees, supervisors, and the CEO of our company, jeopardizing the public safety, and we have accumulated the necessary documentation to prove our allegations. Unfortunately, in order to retain our jobs, our responsibilities required that we followed their lead, and, in good conscience, we are no longer willing to do so; however, we are concerned about any possible, personal liability on our parts.
Our (limited) documentation on company letterhead proves approximately one thousand of these tests were performed without certification over the course of just twelve plus months and continues today by our peers and us. Furthermore, we suspect that this figure represents the tip of the iceberg because our employer has multiple offices, in more than one state.
The second of the aforementioned possible lawsuits involves wage and labor issues; our employer is violating the Department of Transportation and the Department of Labor, as well as the EEOC laws. And, there are other situations in which we feel the legality is questionable. All of which we will convey in more detail later.
We mean no disrespect by our guarded behavior, but, at this point, we need answers to several questions before disclosing any further incriminating information, given the situation in which we find ourselves. Our schedules are often unpredictable, working in the middle of the night and sleeping during the daytime. We respectfully ask that you email us at the noted email address: jjt233@aol.com if you are interested and able to help us.
Thank you for taking the time to consider our dilemma. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Questioning Corporate