PLAINS TWP, LUZERNE CO, (WOLF) — A consent judgment has been ordered against a Luzerne County paper box manufacturer and its owner to pay a former employee $13,000.
This comes after the U.S. Department of Labor alleged the defendants terminated a 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 Paper Box Company Inc. 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, the Plains Township company and its owner, David Frank, terminated an employee who then filed a whistleblower claim alleging that they were wrongly fired because the company believed they 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.
In addition to paying the terminated employee $13,000, the defendants must:
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