Don’t Retaliate Against Workers Who Make Safety Violation Complaints

For Florida workers, safety rules and regulations are a comfort; they keep us safe and make sure we aren’t exposed to unnecessary hazards on the job. And most employers do follow required safety regulations and rules…but not all.

Some employers see them as expensive and overly burdensome, others may genuinely want to comply, but just don’t know what safety regulations they have to follow. Either way, not paying attention to required safety violations can lead to legal problems in the workplace.

Problems When Employees Have Safety Complaints

As an employer, when an employee complains about safety measures that the worker doesn’t feel are being implemented or followed, the employer (your company) has two problems.

The first problem is to see if the worker’s complaint has any validity — that is, whether or not your company is actually violating required safety rules and standards.

The second problem is retaliation; it is all too easy for supervisors or management to “get back” at the complaining employee for a complaint about what the employee sees as a lack of safety standards.

No Retaliation

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA, handles worker complaints about safety problems on the job. Aggrieved employees can make complaints directly to OSHA, and OSHA regulations specifically say that complaining workers cannot be retaliated against by their employers.

In fact the worker doesn’t have to complain to OSHA to get protection; it is even illegal to retaliate against an employee who makes the safety complaint internally — that is, to someone inside of your company.

The worker doesn’t have to cite to the exact OSHA regulation that he or she feels is being violated; just a general complaint that there is a safety issue is enough to trigger the protection.

Remember that retaliation isn’t just firing. It can include more subtle forms of actions, such as altering work assignments, changing work benefits, refusing work training and other seemingly subtle forms of retaliation.

Does the Complaint Have Merit?

Even if the employee ends up being incorrect, and it turns out that no, you’re not violating any kind of safety standard, you still cannot retaliate against the employee, unless you sense that the complaint was made in bad faith (although if you’re thinking of retaliating against an employee because you feel the safety complaint was totally made with malice and in bad faith, you should talk to your employment attorney before taking any action).

If the employee’s complaint to OSHA or internally does have merit, you’ll want to fix the problem immediately. Fixing the problem is not a confession of error — in fact, it could stave off an OSHA investigation, and even if OSHA investigates, quick action can stave off further actions (like fines).

If the safety alterations may take time to implement, you’ll want to get your attorney involved to negotiate time frames with OSHA, to allow the time you need to make the necessary safety changes.

Call our West Palm Beach commercial litigation attorneys at Pike & Lustig to help you navigate safety concerns brought forth by employees at your business.

Source:

osha.gov/news/newsreleases/region4/04202023