"Last summer, two truck drivers employed by an Oklahoma City roofing company shared a serious safety concern with their manager: They reported that the tires on the company truck they were driving were damaged, and that they were concerned not only about their own safety, but also the safety of others on the road. Until the issue was addressed, they weren't comfortable driving the vehicle. The employer’s response? Firing both drivers.
The whistleblower division of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated and found that the employer violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, one of more than 20 whistleblower statutes we enforce. We ordered the company to reinstate both drivers, and to pay them more than $23,000 in back wages and $70,000 in punitive damages. The company is also required to train managers and employees on workers’ rights under the STAA to help prevent any future illegal retaliation against employees.
Under federal law, workers have the right to raise concerns if they believe their rights are being violated in the workplace.
Similarly, the statute enforced by the department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration provides strong protections for miners. Under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, miners have the right to report hazardous conditions and can refuse to work in unsafe conditions. Miners may not be fired, demoted, harassed, intimidated, transferred, refused employment, discriminated against or suffer any loss of wages for exercising their rights under the Mine Act. These are critical protections that allow miners to actively participate in the safety of their workplace, and MSHA takes enforcement of hazard and discrimination complaints seriously.
And similar rights apply to pay concerns, too – If employers don’t pay workers all the wages they’ve earned, they can speak up without fear of retaliation. The department’s Wage and Hour Division enforces laws on the federal minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and child labor requirements, as well as laws about working conditions and payment for agricultural and migrant workers. The division protects workers subject to wage garnishment, too. Any worker protected by any of the laws that the division enforces is protected by their anti-retaliation provisions. View our online resources to determine whether a particular law applies. We enforce the law regardless of a worker’s immigration status, and can communicate with workers in more than 200 languages..."
Whistleblower
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