Can You Be Punished for Raising Safety Concerns at Work?
If you work in an industry that can be considered dangerous, your employer must follow the safety guidelines set forth by the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration’s (OSHA) guidelines. More businesses than you may think have OSHA guidelines that they must follow, and the guidelines apply even if you aren’t in a “dangerous” industry, but your particular job title may be dangerous.
Cutting Corners
OSHA has a long list of requirements that businesses must follow, to ensure safety at your workplace. But many of these requirements are expensive and seem burdensome, so as a result, many employers ignore these regulations, or else, try to avoid them and cut corners.
That can lead to employee safety being at risk, and many employees are well aware when their employer isn’t taking every step necessary, to ensure safety compliance. But it also leads to the question of, if you should complain to OSHA or any government agency about your employer’s lack of safety procedures, or ignoring OSHA regulations, whether you can end up in trouble or be punished by your employer.
No Retaliation is Allowed
Reporting OSHA violations to government agencies or law enforcement or other enforcement agencies, is a protected activity. As such, it is what is known as protected whistleblowing, which is a legally protected activity.
The OSHA guidelines themselves even specifically state that it is illegal for employers to retaliate against employees who report OSHA safety violations. That retaliation doesn’t just include or prohibit you being fired either. Any form of punishment, including demotions, bad marks in your files, not promoting you, or taking away other advantages or benefits that you may have had at work, monetary or otherwise, are all considered illegal retaliation.
And you don’t have to report the violation directly to OSHA to get protection either. Even if you feel that your employer is retaliating against you for reporting the safety violation to a superior in the company, that action is protected as well.
You also don’t have to cite the specific OSHA regulation, or even know exactly whether what you’re reporting is actually an OSHA violation.
In other words, if there’s something telling you that your employer is cutting corners with safety, or if you feel like there should be some safety measure used that isn’t being used, and you report it, you still can’t be retaliated against. You don’t have to know 100% that what you’re concerned about is a legal, OSHA violation, to be safe from retaliation.
Acting in Good Faith
Even if it turns out you’re wrong–for example, OSHA investigates and finds that your employer is following all the laws, and thus, your concerns end up being incorrect–you still can’t be punished, so long as you made the original complaint in good faith.
Contact the San Jose workplace discrimination attorneys at the Costanzo Law Firm today for help if you feel you’re being retaliated against while at work.
Source:
osha.gov/workers/file-complaint
