Rodent problem becomes whistleblower lawsuit
April 24, 2012 by Fred HosierPosted in: Compliance, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, OSHA news, whistleblower
PDF How did an employee’s complaint about a rodent problem at work turn into a whistleblower lawsuit?
Short answer: He complained to OSHA and was fired a day later.
The employee of Aquatech Technologies in Stuart, FL, had reported serious concerns to management about rodents and rodent droppings in the office. The company’s owner, Allan Lochhead, placed rodent traps in the office, but the problem continued.
The employee complained again, but Lochhead reportedly said there was no rodent problem.
After that, the employee filed a health complaint with OSHA. One day after the company was notified of the OSHA complaint, the employee was fired.
Next, the employee filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA. The agency investigated and found the company and Lochhead had unlawfully and intentionally terminated the worker for engaging in activity protected by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.
Now, OSHA’s parent agency, the U.S. Department of Labor, is suing the company and Lochhead.
The suit seeks to:
- have the employee reinstated and paid back wages, interest, and compensatory and punitive damages
- expunge the employee’s personnel records with respect to the matters at issue in the case, and
- bar the employer against future violations of the law by a permanent injunction with the court granting any other appropriate relief.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Pierce Division.
The OSH Act and 20 other statutes protect employees who report violations of various regulations to federal authorities. OSHA is charged with investigating these cases.
You can read about other recent OSHA whistleblower cases here and here.
Last August, OSHA announced steps it would take to boost its whistleblower protection program, including the addition of 25 new investigators. OSHA’s proposed 2013 budget would also move more resources into the whistleblower program. OSHA’s whistleblower web page is here.
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April 24th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
I dont get it with all the evidence we provided OSHA in our whistleblower case we could not get justice and we warned our employer for years before i contacted OSHA.I was fired six weeks after i contacted OSHA and now i am on the verge of losing everything.There was even an OSHA offical who pulled me into a side room in OSHA’s office in Philadelphia where no one was in and provided me inside information that they obviously knew that Trico Lift was lying to there investigators.I used that info to proove on 14 diffrent timelined dates that prooved without a doubt they were lying to U.S federal investigators in our case and this given to OSHA.Not only that but they faxed me on 6 of those dates documentation with cover sheets with there names that hung themselves and also showed how they conspired to lie to federal investigators.This is a federal crime lieing to U.S federal investigators.This case involved Sunoco refineries and risked a disaster.There is way too much to our case to post here but it does not pay to speak up about safety for there is almost no protection.I have been posting our case on DOL youtube videos in there comment section in an attempt to warn others.Trust me it’s unbeleivable what OSHA put us through.Yes there were accidents involving there machines and one i witnessed at the Pennsylvania convention center and a miracle no one was killed and was clear neglegence on Trico Lift for i trouble shot the problem with this machine.