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OSHA Fact Sheet
Your Rights as a Whistleblower
You may file a complaint
with OSHA if your employer retaliates against you because you
are involved in workplace safety and health activities protected
under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act)
or if you report violations of:
Department of Transportation rules and regulations pertaining
to commercial motor carriers and pipeline safety.
Federal Aviation Administration rules and regulations pertaining
to air carrier safety.
The Energy Reorganization Act and the Atomic Energy Act.
Environmental laws relating to air, water, solid waste, Superfund,
and toxic substances, as well as asbestos in schools.
Fraud statutes, SEC rules or regulations, or federal laws relating
to fraud against shareholders.
Laws with
Whistleblower Protections that OSHA Enforces
OSHA administers the whistleblower provisions of the following
laws. Note that complaints must be reported to OSHA within set
time periods following the alleged retaliation, as required by
each law listed below.
Under the following laws, you may file your complaint by telephone
or in writing:
Occupational Safety and Health Act (30 days)
Surface Transportation Assistance Act (180 days)
Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (90 days)
International Safe Container Act (60 days)
Under the following laws,
complaints must be filed in writing:
Clean Air Act (30 days)
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability
Act (30 days)
Energy Reorganization Act (180 days)
Federal Water Pollution Control Act (30 days)
Pipeline Safety Improvement Act (180 days)
Safe Drinking Water Act (30 days)
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (90 days)
Solid Waste Disposal Act (30 days)
Toxic Substances Control Act (30 days)
Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st
Century (90 days)
What Constitutes
Retaliation
Retaliation for protected activity takes place if adverse employment
action is taken against an employee for engaging in activities
protected by one or more of the laws listed above.
Retaliation may include:
Firing or laying off
Blacklisting
Demoting
Denying overtime or promotion
Disciplining
Denial of benefits
Failure to hire or rehire
Intimidation
Reassignment affecting prospects for promotion
Reducing pay or hours
Filing a
Complaint
If you believe that your employer retaliated against you because
you exercised your legal rights as an employee, contact your
local OSHA office as soon as possible, because you must file
your complaint within the legal time limits. You can telephone,
fax, or mail your complaint to the OSHA office nearest you (see
the OSHA website at www.osha.gov). OSHA conducts an in-depth
interview with each complainant to determine whether to conduct
an investigation.
If retaliation for protected activity relating to occupational
safety and health issues takes place in a state that operates
an OSHA-approved state plan, the complaint should be filed with
the state agency, although persons in those states may file with
Federal OSHA at the same time. In addition, although the Occupational
Safety and Health Act covers only private sector employees, state
plans also cover state and local government employees. For details,
see http://www.osha.gov/fso/osp/index.html.
How OSHA Determines
Whether Retaliation Took Place
The investigation must reveal that:
The employee engaged in protected
activity;
The employer knew about the protected activity; and
The protected activity was the motivating factor (or under some
laws, a contributing factor) in the decision to take the adverse
action against the employee.
If the evidence supports
the employee’s claim of retaliation, and a settlement cannot
be reached, OSHA will issue an order requiring the employer to
reinstate the employee, pay back wages, restore benefits, and
other possible remedies to make the employee whole.
Limited Protections
for Employees Who Refuse to Work
You have a limited right under the OSH Act to refuse to do a
job because conditions are hazardous. You may do so under the
OSH Act only when (1) you believe that you face death or serious
injury (and the situation is so clearly hazardous that any reasonable
person would believe the same thing); (2) you have tried to get
your employer to correct the condition, and there is no other
way to do the job safely; and (3) the situation is so urgent
that you do not have time to eliminate the hazard through regulatory
channels such as calling OSHA.
Even though your union contract or state law may give employees
the right to refuse work, OSHA cannot enforce those contracts
or state laws. Regardless of the unsafe condition, you are not
protected if you simply walk off the job. For details, see http://
www.osha.gov/as/opa/worker/refuse.html.
Whistleblower Protections
in the Transportation Industry
Employees whose jobs directly affect commercial motor vehicle
safety are protected from retaliation by their employers for
refusing to violate or for reporting violations of Department
of Transportation (DOT) motor carrier safety standards or regulations,
or refusing to operate a vehicle because of such violations or
because they have a reasonable apprehension of death or serious
injury.
A commercial motor vehicle is one that:
Has a gross vehicle weight or GVW rating of 10,001 pounds or
more;
Is designed to carry ten or more passengers, including the driver;
or
Is used to transport materials required by DOT to be placarded.
Similarly, employees of air
carriers, their contractors or subcontractors who raise safety
concerns or report violations of FAA rules and regulations are
protected from retaliation, as are employees of owners and operators
of pipelines, their contractors and subcontractors, who report
violations of pipeline safety rules and regulations. Employees
involved in international shipping who report unsafe shipping
containers are also protected.
Whistleblower Protections
for Voicing Environmental Concerns
A number of laws protect employees who report violations of environmental
laws related to drinking water and water pollution, toxic substances,
solid waste disposal, air quality and air pollution, asbestos
in schools, and hazardous waste disposal sites. The Energy Reorganization
Act protects employees in the nuclear power industry and in nuclear
medicine who raise safety concerns.
Whistleblower Protections
When Reporting Corporate Fraud
Employees who work for publicly traded companies or companies
required to file certain reports to the Securities and Exchange
Commission are protected from retaliation for reporting alleged
violations of mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, or securities
fraud laws, or for reporting violations of rules or regulations
of the SEC, or federal laws relating to fraud against shareholders.
More Information
To get more information on whistleblower statutes, go to www.osha.gov,
click on W in the site index, then click on Whistleblowers.
This is one in a series of
informational fact sheets highlighting OSHA programs, policies
or standards. It does not impose any new compliance requirements.
For a comprehensive list of compliance requirements of OSHA standards
or regulations, refer to Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals
upon request. The voice phone is (202) 693-1999; teletypewriter
(TTY) number: (877) 889-5627.
For more complete information: U.S. Department of Labor, www.osha.gov,
(800) 321-OSHA
Source: OSHA Fact Sheet 11/17/06
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