The Justice Department has joined a whistleblower lawsuit against The Gallup Organization.

The lawsuit was filed by Michael Lindley, a former Gallup employee. Lindley alleges that Gallup violated the False Claims Act by making false claims for payment under contracts with the U.S. Mint, the State Department and other federal agencies to provide polling services for various government programs.

Lindley alleges that Gallup violated the False Claims Act by giving the government inflated estimates of the number of hours that it would take to perform its services, even though it had separate and lower internal estimates of the number of hours that would be required.

The complaint alleges that the government paid Gallup based on the inflated estimates, rather than Gallup’s lower internal estimates.

The government intervened in the lawsuit with respect to Gallup’s contracts with the Mint and the State Department.

Federal officials indicated that they plan to assert additional claims related to Gallup’s subcontract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

These claims relate to allegations in the whistleblower lawsuit that Gallup negotiated for employment with a FEMA official who was responsible for Gallup’s subcontract while, at the same time, Gallup was seeking to obtain additional funding from FEMA for Gallup’s subcontract.

Lindley is being represented by Vogel Slade & Goldstein.

Gallup is being represented by Robert Rhoad of Crowell & Moring.