Julie Su Acting United States Secretary of Labor | Official Website
The U.S. Department of Labor has mandated that TrueStart Transport LLC, a Maugansville-based trucking company, reinstate an employee and compensate them with nearly $30,000 in back wages and damages. This decision comes after the department determined that the company had unlawfully terminated the worker for refusing to drive an oversized load under unsafe conditions.
An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) revealed that TrueStart Transport LLC breached the whistleblower provision of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act. The violation occurred when the company dismissed an employee who raised safety concerns about transporting an oversized load without a required escort vehicle.
According to OSHA, the employee informed TrueStart Transport LLC that driving without an escort was hazardous. Despite this warning, the company insisted on proceeding. When the employee refused, they were terminated, abandoned at a Tennessee truck stop, and forced to pay their own way back home to Texas.
“Our investigation found TrueStart Transport wrongly fired the employee for insisting they follow safety requirements, which is a protected right under federal law,” stated OSHA Regional Administrator Michael Rivera in Philadelphia. “The company’s actions were inexcusable and illegal and undermined an employee’s rightful concern for their own safety and the safety of others on the road.”
OSHA has ordered TrueStart Transport LLC to pay $9,698 in back wages and interest, $10,000 in punitive damages, and $10,000 in compensatory damages.
TrueStart Transport LLC specializes in freight and heavy-haul trucking services based out of Maugansville, Maryland.
OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program enforces provisions across 25 statutes designed to protect employees from retaliation when reporting various workplace violations or engaging in related protected activities. These statutes cover areas such as workplace safety and health, commercial motor carriers, consumer products, environmental laws, financial reform measures, food safety regulations, health insurance reforms, motor vehicle safety standards, nuclear industry regulations, pipeline operations, public transportation agencies' practices, railroad operations, maritime regulations, securities laws compliance and tax laws adherence. For more information on these protections visit OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Programs webpage.
The Secretary's Findings can be read online.
Editor's note: The U.S. Department of Labor does not release names of employees involved in whistleblower complaints.
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