CLEVELAND, July 27 — On July 17, the Federal Railroad Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that they had reached a memorandum of agreement to begin working together to address the seriousness and overwhelming number of whistleblower complaints that OSHA has received from railroad workers.
BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce applauded the announcement.
“OSHA has received nearly 1,000 whistleblower complaints in less than five years,” President Pierce said. “That’s more than 200 per year, or more than one every other day. Retaliation against railroad workers is an epidemic that has plagues our industry for years and I am pleased that problem is finally being addressed in a manner that I hope will bring an end to the decades old harassment and intimidation of rail workers. One incident is objectionable, but 200 per year is despicable. This is the reason the BLET was front and center working to get this legislation passed.”
The BLET was instrumental in passage federal legislation in 2007 and 2008, which contain whistleblower provisions that protect railroad workers from retaliation when they report violations or work-related personal injuries and protect their right to prompt medical treatment.
“The BLET helped in many ways to pass this law with a labor-friendly Congress,” President Pierce said. “The wheels of justice sometimes move slowly, and five years later our hard work is finally paying dividends.”
According to OSHA, whistleblower complaints in the railroad industry have increased steadily since the protections were improved. Between 2007 and 2012, OSHA received more than 900 whistleblower complaints, and almost 63 percent involved an allegation that a worker was retaliated against for reporting an on-the-job injury.
Under their memorandum of agreement, OSHA and FRA will coordinate and cooperate regarding the enforcement of whistleblower reports. While FRA has broad authority over rail safety, it does not have direct authority to address whistleblower incidents, which falls under OSHA’s jurisdiction.
The memorandum establishes procedures for the agencies to follow for whistleblower complaints. Under the agreement, the FRA will refer railroad employees who complain of alleged retaliation to OSHA. OSHA will provide the FRA with copies of the complaints it receives under the FRSA’s whistleblower provision, as well as any findings and preliminary orders that OSHA issues. The agencies will jointly develop training to assist FRA enforcement staff in recognizing complaints of retaliation, and to assist OSHA enforcement staff in recognizing potential violations of railroad safety regulations revealed during whistleblower investigations.
FRA Administrator Joe Szabo described the memorandum as a “watershed moment” for rail safety. Dr. David Michaels, OSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor, said: “The safety of railroad employees depends on workers’ ability to report injuries, incidents and hazards without fear of retaliation.”
The OSHA-FRA memorandum is available here.
OSHA’s whistleblower Fact Sheet for railroad workers is available here.
Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against for engaging in protected conduct may file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor for an investigation by OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Detailed information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets with information on how to file a complaint with OSHA, is available online here.