Whistleblower Law Blog

TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Duane Thomas Marine Construction LLC and owner Duane Thomas for violating Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). According to DOL, between December 9, 2009 and February 25, 2011, Duane [...]

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TweetOn November 20, 2012, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels announced that Beth Slavet has been appointed as the new direct or OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Slavet has over thirty years of whistleblower enforcement experience. Prior to her appointment as director of OSHA’s whistleblower program, Slavet [...]

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TweetFollowing an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the Northern Illinois Flight Center has been ordered to reinstate an Illinois pilot and pay him over $500,000 in back pay, benefits and damages. OSHA found that the flight center violated the whistleblower protection provision of the Wendell H. [...]

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TweetEarlier this month the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it will be launching an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) pilot program for complaints filed with OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program. The new program will be implemented in OSHA’s Chicago and San Francisco regions and will work with complainants and employers [...]

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TweetLast month, in Evans v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, ARB No. 08-059, ALJ No. 2008-CAA-3 (ARB July 31, 2012), the Administrative Review Board (ARB) of the U.S. Department of Labor issued a decision rejecting heightened pleading standards previously announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a lower pleading standard for whistleblower complaints [...]

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TweetOmaha, Nebraska-based Union Pacific Railroad Co. has agreed to pay an employee $38,561.92 in punitive damages for violating the whistleblower provision for the Federal Railroad Safety Act when it retaliated against an employee who reported a work-related injury. An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that [...]

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TweetEarlier this month, CMM Realty Inc., a real estate management company headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, entered a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to settle allegations that it violated the Clean Air Act’s whistleblower provision when it terminated a maintenance worker who raised safety and environmental [...]

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TweetNorfolk Southern Railway, a railroad operator based in Norfolk, Virginia, has been ordered by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to pay $802,168.70 to settle allegations that it violated the whistleblower provision of the Federal Railroad Safety Act when it terminated three employees who reported work injuries. According to OSHA, this [...]

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TweetIn a press release issued last week, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that Anchorage, Alaska- based North Star Behavioral Health System has been ordered to reinstate and pay over $250,000 to an employee who was terminated in retaliation for reporting safety concerns regarding the facility’s water supply. An [...]

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TweetR. Scott Oswald, managing principal of The Employment Law Group® law firm was recently interviewed by Law360 regarding the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) announcement last week that it plans to establish an a Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee dedicated to improving OSHA’s whistleblower protection efforts. The proposed committee would fulfill and [...]

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TweetOn May 3, 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it ordered Mark Alvis, Inc., a Tennessee-based commercial motor carrier, to reinstate a former employee and pay him $180,000 in back pay, interest, and damages. OSHA found that the company violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act by terminating [...]

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TweetOn April 23, 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that St. James Stevedoring Partners LLC, a New Orleans-based riverboat company, has agreed to pay $245,000 to settle allegations that it violated the Seaman’s Protection Act when it terminated an employee for raising safety concerns.  The whistleblower provisions of the Seaman’s Protection Act protect employees [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against Aquatech Canvas & Consignment, a division of LOTO Services, LLC, and its owner, Allan R. Lochhead, for terminating an employee who raised health concerns about Aquatech’s facility in Stuart, Florida.  According to OSHA, Aquatech Canvas & Consignment “specializes [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Chesapeake, Virginia-based Dollar Tree Stores with repeat workplace safety hazards at a Newark, New Jersey location and has proposed $121,000 in penalties. OSHA found during an inspection of the Dollar Tree Store in Newark that the retailer had permitted its exit routes [...]

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TweetOn February 28, 2012, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed allegations that the United States Postal Service retaliated against a Seattle safety specialist who advised a co-worker to file a safety complaint. OSHA investigated the initial claim and found that the Postal Service violated the whistleblower protection provisions of the Occupation Safety and [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week ordered Interline Logistics Group LLC, a trucking company headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia, to reinstate a Sauk Village truck driver, and pay over $190,000 in back wages and compensatory damages for violating the whistleblower provision of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA). The [...]

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TweetOn February 13, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued citations to Publix Supermarket for sixteen safety and health violations after a worker lost his hand while cleaning conveyor equipment at a Jacksonville distribution center in September. OSHA proposed a total of $182,000 in penalties for repeat violations, including failure to create and follow [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week cited a Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) supercenter in Rochester, NY for 24 repeated and serious violations of workplace safety and health standards. Following an OSHA inspection, OSHA proposed that Wal-Mart pay $365,500 in fines. The inspection conducted by OSHA’s Buffalo Area Office [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week ordered AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of Dallas- based Southwest Airlines Co., to reinstate a former pilot who was fired in 2007 after he filed numerous reports of mechanical malfunctions. OSHA found that AirTran violated the whistleblower provision of the Wendell H. Ford [...]

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TweetOn January 11, 20101, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Prolerized New England Co. LLC, a recycling company in Everett, Massachusetts, for ten serious workplace safety violations and proposed that the company pay $70,000 in fines. OSHA investigated Prolerized’s Schnitzer Northeast facility in Everett, Massachusetts after an incident in September 2011 in which [...]

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TweetThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently issued 13 citations to LaBolt Farmers Grain Company, Inc. for exposing workers to unsafe conditions.  OSHA fined Labolt $95,920 for the cited violations.  LaBolt, based in South Dakota, allegedly failed to neutralize an auger, which severely injured a worker’s leg during a moving bin sweep. As a [...]

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Tweet On December 21, 2011 the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), a division of the Department of Labor ordered Union Pacific Railroad. Co. to rehire a former employee after an unlawful termination. The employee, who remains unidentified due to OSHA policy, filed a whistleblower complaint against Union Pacific after the company suspended then fired [...]

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Tweet On December 16, 2011, the United States Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board issued important decision for whistleblowers and their advocates to end a year of landmark Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) decisions by the ARB, including: Vannoy v. Celanese, ARB No. 09-118, ALJ No. 2008-SOX-064 (ARB September 28, 2011) (holding that whistleblower disclosures [...]

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TweetKV Pharmaceutical (KV), the parent company for Ethex Corporation (Ethex), this month agreed to pay $17 million to settle claims that Ethex of violated the False Claims Act when it allegedly reported false information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to the complaint filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Ethex [...]

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TweetLast week, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sued retail food store chain Whole Foods Market for terminating marketing specialist Bridget Hobart in November 2009 because she had reported health concerns to OSHA after a sewer line ruptured in the Whole Foods store in Miami Beach.  The lawsuit follows an OSHA [...]

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