A San Jose, Calif., trucking company must pay more than $145,000 in back wages and damages for violating whistleblower protections in the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced recently.
San Jose-based Transdev Services Inc. was cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for punishing two employees for reporting they were physically unable to safely drive a commercial motor vehicle, the DOL reported April 4. An OSHA investigation found Transdev Services levied disciplinary points against the two drivers for refusing to drive, the report states, resulting in one driver being terminated.
“In this case, two drivers alerted Transdev Services of their concerns for their safety and that of others and were punished for doing so," James Wulff, OSHA regional administrator in San Francisco, said in the announcement. "This is illegal and employers need to know that they will be held accountable for violating worker’s rights.”
Transdev Services was ordered by OSHA to reinstate the terminated driver and pay the driver $95,000 in damages and back wages, according to the report. The company was ordered to pay the second driver $50,000 in damages; the disciplinary actions taken against both workers were to be removed from their records. Transdev Services was ordered also to " train managers, post a notice informing their employees of workers protection rights under federal law, and revise company policy to comply with the Surface Transportation Assistance Act," the DOL reports.
“Employees who report workplace safety concerns are protected by federal law against retaliation of any kind,” Wulff said in the report.
The trucking firm has the right to appeal the OSHA ruling to the Office of Administrative Law Judges, according to the announcement.
