A former Stantec employee alleges that contractors for the Honolulu light rail project improperly filed more than 100 change orders totaling more than $20 million. The whistleblower lawsuit, filed in Orange County, Calif., claims the employee was wrongfully terminated in 2017 in retaliation for questioning apparent mishandling of change orders by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation. The employee claims the agency’s delays and failure to obtain accurate cost estimates for the change orders until after work got under way resulted in excessive overpayments and litigation. Already six years behind schedule and nearly double its original cost estimate, at $9-billion, the light rail project also faces multiple investigations by federal and local authorities.