OSHA files whistleblower lawsuit against convenience store chain
August 20, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Lawsuits, OSHA news, whistleblower
PDF OSHA shows it’s serious about stepping up action against companies accused of firing workers for making complaints about safety.
Modern Oil Co. of Shawnee, OK, which operates about 30 Kwik Stop Convenience Stores, faces a federal lawsuit for firing an employee who complained about workplace safety.
An employee complained to her manager that beverage boxes stacked too high posed a safety hazard. Then the employee took the complaint to OSHA.
OSHA claims a month after receiving the complaint, the store manager figured out which employee filed the complaint and fired the worker.
In addition to back pay and reinstatement, the lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages for the employee.
“Employees should be free to exercise their rights under the law without fear of termination or retaliation by their employers,” said William Burke, OSHA regional administrator in Dallas. “This lawsuit underscores the Labor Department’s commitment to vigorously take action to protect those rights.”
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August 20th, 2010 at 6:49 am
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December 9th, 2010 at 3:02 am
I noticed the dates of the alleged violations have been missing from all of the articles on this site. I filed an OSHA complaint against my employer, after I had repeatedly explained most of the safety violations to management. After OSHA performed their inspections and found numerous serious violations and repeat violations I was notified by the manager and told that due to the economy I was no longer needed and laid off, funny but I was the only one laid off from this company. I contacted OSHA to let them know about their possible retaliation for the OSHA complaints. I was assigned an OSHA investigator and after four months and several phone calls back and forth, I was told that this may take from a year and a half to possibly three years to resolve my case. Oh yes, he told me to hang tight and try to tough it out. My advice to other prospective whistleblowers is just to let it go, the government is not out to protect the employees this is a regulation agency with no teeth. Beware.