Fort Myers Payroll War Continues
ADP Whistleblower’s Eight-Year Legal Bloodbath with Payroll Giant Not Slowing Down
LUTHMANN NOTE: Ex-manager David Schwartz fights on in Florida courts, appealing a whistleblower case and facing a defamation suit from HR behemoth ADP as he campaigns to expose alleged corporate misconduct. This case is not small. It is not trivial. It is not going away. The federal court fight ended in ADP’s favor. But the Florida war remains alive. The whistleblower appeal sits before the Sixth District Court of Appeal. The defamation suit remains active in Lee County. That means the final chapter has not been written. Corporate America has vast resources. Individual whistleblowers rarely do. If Schwartz wins on appeal, this fight explodes back into the trial court. If he loses, ADP closes the book. Either way, 2026 may finally determine whether David Schwartz was a fraud… or a prophet. This piece is “Fort Myers Payroll War Continues,” first published in FLGulf.News.
By Richard Luthmann with Frankie Pressman
Blowing the Lid Off ADP’s “Dirty Little Secrets”
(FORT MYERS, FLORIDA) – This legal saga began when David M. Schwartz, a former senior sales manager at Automatic Data Processing (ADP), blew the whistle on what he called the payroll giant’s “dirty little secrets.” Hired in 2015 and promoted in 2017, Schwartz claims he witnessed ADP violating state unemployment insurance laws, committing tax fraud, falsifying Social Security numbers, and unethically hawking retirement plans it wasn’t licensed to sell.
After internal complaints fell on deaf ears, he reported the alleged fraud to the SEC and FINRA, setting the stage for a high-stakes confrontation. In mid-2018, Schwartz says ADP swiftly retaliated – locking him out of his company iPad and firing him a month later.
The ousted insider didn’t go quietly. Branding himself “the ADP whistleblower,” Schwartz went public with his accusations. He launched ADPFraud.com in 2019 to document “the federal crimes he reported” and rally other aggrieved employees and customers.
His first whistleblowing memo went viral with over 10,000 views, and thousands joined in sharing horror stories of ADP’s alleged wrongs.
“The social media campaign is directing angry customers to memos at ADPFraud.com about each area where ADP has ripped off customers or wronged employees,” the whistleblower’s site boasted.
As posts tagged #ADPsucks spread, Schwartz’s crusade gained momentum – and drew blood from ADP’s pride. He had publicly painted the industry leader as a lawbreaking bully, and ADP’s top brass were not about to let it slide without a fight.
Fort Myers Payroll War Continues: ADP Strikes Back – Lawsuits, “Hacking” Allegations and 1,127 Docket Entries
ADP answered the whistleblower’s exposé with a barrage of lawsuits meant to muzzle him, according to Schwartz. Within months of his firing, the company sued him in Florida state court in 2018, ostensibly for failing to return the company’s iPad and for allegedly walking off with trade secrets. Schwartz hit back in that case with a counterclaim under Florida’s private-sector Whistleblower Act, arguing ADP’s lawsuit itself was revenge for his reporting of misconduct.
ADP then upped the ante: in 2019, it filed a second suit accusing Schwartz of defamation over his incendiary website “ADPFraud.com” (the site is no longer active, and the @ADPFraud X account is suspended). The whistleblower cried foul – he insisted these cases were blatant retaliation and sought legal protection as a whistleblower.
The litigation quickly turned toxic. Schwartz alleges that after his fight went public, ADP resorted to cyber espionage – hacking into his Apple accounts and devices to spy on his communications (even those with his lawyer).
Feeling under siege, Schwartz took the offensive to federal court in 2021, filing a lawsuit accusing ADP of computer fraud, wiretapping, and other violations.
“Once the state-court litigation got publicity, Schwartz thought ADP hacked his Apple devices to access his electronic communications,” Fort Myers federal judge Kyle C. Dudek noted of the explosive allegation. The judge observed that “this case was contentious” – an understatement given that one state court case “now has 1,127 docket entries” and the tale’s procedural history “could fill a novel.”
Both Florida state cases remain unresolved and pending years later[5], bogged down in a swamp of bitter motions and discovery fights. ADP even sought to punish Schwartz and his lawyer, demanding six-figure sanctions and legal fees for alleged litigation misconduct. (The court ultimately denied ADP’s bid for sanctions, despite the “attacks and insults” flying in the case.)
By 2022, ADP was accusing Schwartz of destroying evidence – wiping the very iPad at issue – and asking a judge to throw out his federal suit or declare ADP the winner by default. Schwartz only returned the device in 2021 after a state judge threatened him with jail.
This legal war has raged for nearly eight years, with ADP wielding every procedural weapon to bury its ex-employee, and Schwartz refusing to back down.
Fort Myers Payroll War Continues: Courtroom Drama and a Campaign for Vindication
In court filings, Schwartz paints himself as David versus Goliath, battling a multi-billion-dollar corporation determined to grind him into the dirt. He maintains that ADP’s lawsuits were a smoke screen to distract from his damning whistleblower evidence.
He says he had the goods to prove ADP’s fraud – even accusing the company of engaging in the unlicensed sale of securities through its retirement plan scheme.
Schwarts is represented by Fort Myers-based Parrish & Goodman Law Firm, PLLC.
ADP, for its part, vehemently denies any wrongdoing. The company paid an expert witness to rebut Schwartz’s claims that it sold investments without a license, and it insists Schwartz is merely a disgruntled ex-employee slandering his former employer.
ADP’s legal team has thus far been successful at the trial court level. In mid-2023, a Florida judge sided with ADP and granted summary judgment against Schwartz – throwing out his whistleblower counterclaim and ruling in ADP’s favor on its contract and trade-secret claims.
Schwartz was stunned as his day in court was snatched away. According to his appellate filings, the judge adopted an order “exculpating ADP from liability” on the whistleblower claim and even issued an injunction for trade secrets without a trial. Schwartz argues this was an error and has appealed, slamming the outcome as an “erroneous Final Judgment” rife with mistakes.
Outside the courthouse, the fiery whistleblower has not been shy about voicing his outrage. On social media, he and his supporters rail against ADP’s hardball tactics.
“Poor whistleblower… sued for the 3rd time by these jackals!” one ally tweeted, referring to ADP’s cease-and-desist efforts to shut down Schwartz’s website. The tweet snarled that ADPFraud.com simply had “too much truthful information regarding their crimes. Grow up, $ADP!.”
Schwartz’s campaign has tapped into a well of discontent among ADP’s clients and employees, who have flocked to his cause with their own tales of mistreatment. With each legal twist, Schwartz posts updates, vowing that he’ll be vindicated in the end.
“The tides will soon shift on ADP,” an online forum post proclaimed, “and drown the b--tards that have been riding the wave of lies.”
Hyperbole aside, the sense of a brewing comeuppance energizes Schwartz’s supporters as he presses on.
Fort Myers Payroll War Continues: Whistleblower’s Last Stand? Appeals Court Showdown Looms in 2026
Now, as 2026 dawns, David Schwartz’s fight with ADP is barreling toward a climax in Florida’s courts. His Florida Whistleblower Act retaliation claim – the heart of his crusade – is now before the newly formed Sixth District Court of Appeal, where he seeks to overturn the trial court’s summary judgment and finally get his day before a jury.
Court records show the appellate briefing continued through 2024 and 2025, with Schwartz filing an extensive Initial Brief laying out alleged trial errors and arguing that the case must be sent back for trial. A decision from the three-judge panel could drop at any time.
Meanwhile, ADP’s offensive is far from over. The company’s 2019 defamation lawsuit – targeting Schwartz for his online broadside against ADP – remains active in the Florida state trial court in Lee County. That case has not yet reached a final judgment, according to the docket, and could be headed for a headline-grabbing trial of its own.
In fact, an expert witness disclosure lists “ADP LLC v. David Schwartz” as a defamation case ongoing in 2025 in Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit.
In the coming months, observers may witness either an appellate court breathing new life into Schwartz’s whistleblower claim or a jury hearing ADP’s grievances over the ADPFraud website – or both. For now, Schwartz remains unbowed, insisting he was fired for doing the right thing and determined to prove it.
“I was standing up to illegal business practices,” he says – and he’s hell-bent on holding ADP accountable.
ADP, unsurprisingly, stands by its actions and paints Schwartz as a liar bent on smearing the company out of spite.
Eight years into this feud, neither side has ceded an inch. The Florida court dockets confirm that this legal war is still very much alive, with hundreds upon hundreds of filings and no peace treaty in sight. The case that has dragged on so long it “could fill a novel” may finally have its final chapters written.
In early 2026, all eyes are on the Sixth District Court of Appeal and the Lee County courthouse, where the vindication David Schwartz hungers for – or a resounding defeat – will soon be decided. Until that verdict comes, the ADP whistleblower’s battle rages on, a testament to one man’s resolve against a corporate titan and a dramatic reminder that the fight for truth can be a long, bruising affair.
