OSHA Whistleblower Rights

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (”OSHA”) provides information on whistleblower laws at www.osha.gov in the link “Whistleblower Protection.”  In addition, OSHA provides an informational Fact Sheet at http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/whistleblower_rights.pdf which identifies general information about OSHA whistleblower protections and how to make a retaliation complaint.  In this regard, OSHA says an individual may file a complaint with OSHA if the individual’s employer retaliates against the individual by taking unfavorable personnel action against an employee engaging in protected activity relating to workplace safety and health, commercial motor carrier safety, pipeline safety, air carrier safety, nuclear safety, the environment, asbestos in schools, corporate fraud, SEC rules or regulations, railroad carrier safety or security, or public transportation agency safety or security.  Importantly, OSHA enforced whistleblower laws require that complaints be filed within a certain number of days after the alleged retaliation.  Deadlines for some complaints can be as short as 30 days and some complaints must be in writing. 

OSHA states generally that it determines whether retaliation took place by conducting an investigation which looks at certain criteria, including whether the employee engaged in protected activity; whether the employer knew about the protected activity; whether the employer took an adverse action; and, whether the protected activity was the motivating factor (or under some laws, the contributing factor) in the decision to take the adverse action against the employee.  According to OSHA’s Fact Sheet, evidence of adverse action may include, for example, termination, lay-off, blacklisting, disciplining, intimidation, pay reduction, overtime denial, and reducing hours, among others. 

Employees who believe they have been retaliated against because they exercised their legal rights as an employee may contact OSHA at their closest OSHA regional office.  In Texas, OSHA has a regional office in Dallas which may be reached by phone at (972)850-4145.  Again, further information from OSHA regarding whistleblower protections and complaint guidelines may be found in OSHA’s website.

Whether OSHA employment related whistleblower retaliation occurs in Beaumont, Dallas, Houston or elsewhere, retaliation victims may contact OSHA and an attorney to determine if a whistleblower lawsuit is ultimately appropriate under the particular circumstances and facts of the potential OSHA whistleblower claim.