The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit against Paccar Inc., which does business as Peterbilt Motor Co., alleging the company last year fired an employee concerned about COVID-19.
An investigation by the agency found the Denton-based truck manufacturer violated federal whisteblower protections by retaliating against an employee who raised concerns about exposure to the virus in March 2020. The employee raised concerns with a supervisor at the Denton facility about working within six feet of other workers in the plant. The supervisor told the employee the workspace would be cleaned, but after Paccar learned the employee had expressed concerns about the company’s response publicly, the employee was fired, according to a news release announcing the suit.
Before being fired, the employee reached out to the Denton Chamber of Commerce to ask what action was being taken to address COVID-19 concerns at the Peterbilt plant, which employs roughly 2,000 people. The chamber told the employee the question was best directed to Peterbilt management and forwarded his email to said management, according to federal court documents. Peterbilt fired the employee the next day, stating he had disclosed trade secret information in his email to the chamber, and that he was also being fired for poor performance.
“Both stated reasons were untrue and are a pretext for unlawful retaliation for [the former employee’s] expressing his valid complaints related to workplace...
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