Covid Whistleblowers

I read somewhere that more than 1700 RETALIATION complaints were filed with OSHA throughout the course of this pandemic by the same workers who filed COVID related whistleblower complaints.

The concern is that more than half of those retaliation complaints received were dismissed without being investigated and only 2% were investigated and resolved.

It has been recorded that during the first six months of the coronavirus crisis employer retaliation for exercising their workplace health and safety rights received very little support from OSHA, the agency tasked with their protection.

KEY FINDINGS:

We analyzed OSHA’s public data showing 1,744 COVID-19-related retaliation complaints filed by workers from the beginning of the pandemic through August 9th and found that only 348 of the complaints [just 1in 5] were docketed for investigation; and only 35 complaints [just 2%] were resolved in that period. Most of the complaints [54 %] were dismissed or closed without investigation.Of the tiny number of resolved complaints, it is unclear whether any were settled in a manner beneficial to the workers. OSHA does not make those outcomes public or explain the settlements.

OSHA also received an additional 680 COVID-19-related worker retaliation complaints that the agency forwarded to other government agencies for investigations: 112 worker retaliation complaints were forwarded to other federal agencies such as the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, and 568 retaliation complaints were referred to state OSHA agencies.

This really undermines workers’ confidence that they’ll be protected when reporting unsafe working conditions. But it is especially egregious during a pandemic that, to date, has resulted in more than 210,000 COVID-related deaths and over 7.4 million cases in the United States, many likely due to workplace-related coronavirus transmissions—the most of any country in the world.

This brings up OSHA’S Relatively Weak Whistleblower Statute. I have information if anyone is interested.

FYI:

OSHA’s whistleblower protections act requires that workers file a whistleblower complaint with OSHA within 30 days of the date of the retaliatory action (some states, including Kentucky, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia, allow a longer timeframe). The 30-day timeframe is far shorter than most recently enacted whistleblower statutes, including the Federal Railroad Safety Act, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the Surface Transportation and Assistance Act, the Seaman’s Protection Act, SOC, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and the Consumer Protection Act, the Food Safety Modernization Act, and the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, all of which give complainants 180 days from the date of the adverse action to file a complaint with OSHA.