Whistleblower Law Blog

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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TweetThe U.S Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is suing RockTenn Corporation, a consumer packaging manufacturer based in Norcross, Georgia for allegedly violating whistleblower protection laws at its Fernandina Beach plant.  The lawsuit alleges that an employee at the plant had repeatedly raised serious and credible safety concerns with managers, and that [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) awarded $99,000 to Gy Bennar, a former Head Greens Keeper at an Oklahoma golf course, for blowing the whistle on illegal wastewater treatment practices. Southwestern Oklahoma Development Authority (“SWODA”) managed the public golf course. Over the course of four years, Bennar allegedly witnessed SWODA using water from [...]

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Tweet The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced in a press release significant improvements to its Whistleblower Protection Program.   OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels explained: The ability of workers to speak out and exercise their legal rights without fear of retaliation is crucial to many of the legal protections and [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) should be commended for requesting an additional $6 million in funding for its whistleblower programs, which would allow them to hire an additional 45 full-time employees. The DOL enforces 21 federal statutes enacted by Congress to protect employees who report illegal or unsafe activity from being retaliated against by [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ordered CMM Realty, Inc., a real estate management company located in Columbia, South Carolina, to reinstate an employee and award him backpay with interest.  The company had fired the employee following his complaints about the asbestos at the condominium where he worked – a [...]

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TweetThe U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Inspector General (IG) issued a report regarding OSHA’s Whistleblower Program concluding that: Only 2% of whistleblower complaints were found to have merit by OSHA; and Approximately 80% of OSHA investigations did not satisfy one or more of eight elements from the Whistleblower Investigations Manual that are essential [...]

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TweetThe Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported to Congress its findings on the OSHA whistleblower program in its report titled “Whistleblower Protection: Sustained Management Attention Needed to Address Long-standing Program Weaknesses.”  The GAO concludes that OSHA has neglected its whistleblower program and has failed to implement GAO’s prior recommendations.  Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Patty Murray [...]

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TweetOSHA announced its new interim final rules for filing whistleblower complaints and invited the public to submit comments.  In a news release, OSHA stated: “When workers believe their employers are violating certain laws or government regulations, they have the right to file a complaint and should not fear retaliation. Silenced workers are not safe workers,” [...]

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TweetRecognizing that robust whistleblower protection is critical to preventing another financial crisis, Congress included in the Dodd-Frank financial services reform bill (H.R. 4173) numerous provisions designed to encourage whistleblowing and to provide robust protection from retaliation.  These provisions create monetary awards for whistleblowers who provide original information to the SEC or CFTC, strengthen the whistleblower [...]

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