PLAINS TOWNSHIP, PA – A federal district court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania has issued a consent judgment ordering a Luzerne County paper box manufacturer and its owner to pay a former employee $13,000 after the U.S. Department of Labor alleged the defendants terminated the worker illegally because they mistakenly believed the employee had filed a safety complaint with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The chain of events began in October 2017 after a Midvale employee filed a safety complaint with OSHA alleging that the company did not provide employees with personal protective equipment and lacked required lockout/tagout procedures. OSHA conducted a safety inspection and issued citations to the employer.
After the inspection, Midvale Paper Box Company Inc. and owner, David Frank, terminated an employee who then filed a whistleblower claim alleging that they were wrongly terminated because the company and its owner believed mistakenly that the employee they terminated had filed the OSHA complaint. Following its investigation, the department filed a complaint in federal court alleging the defendants violated the terminated employee’s whistleblower rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Federal law forbids employers from taking adverse action against an employee who files an OSHA safety complaint.
“Protecting the right of an employee to file a federal workplace safety complaint or participate in an OSHA inspection are...
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