Judge Awards $1.9M to Rockwood Medical Clinic Whistleblower

SPOKANE (AP) — The former chief financial officer of a chain of medical clinics in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, has been awarded $1.9 million after he alleged he was fired for refusing to file fabricated financial reports.

The Spokesman-Review reports that Gregg Becker was the CFO of Rockwood Clinic. Becker sued in 2012, saying he was fired when he refused to rework his projections of the company's losses that year. He estimated the losses at $12.8 million, but said the company said the company tried to bully him into lowering the figure to $4 million.

In a ruling last week, U.S. Department of Labor administrative law judge Christopher Larsen awarded him $1.9 million, saying he had no reasonable basis for approving the $4 million figure and an entirely reasonable basis for rejecting it.

A lawyer for Rockwood Clinic's parent company said he expects an appeal.