WASHINGTON -- After finding that workers who complain of health and safety hazards are often dismissed from their jobs, the Clinton administration will soon propose sweeping new protections for such whistle-blowers, federal officials say.
The law that created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration prohibits employers from retaliating against people who report unsafe or unhealtful working conditions.
But the inspector general of the Labor Department, Charles Masten, said such reprisals often occur, and Charles Jeffress, the assistant secretary of labor in charge of OSHA, said the Clinton administration would soon recommend changes in the law to increase the protection of workers who expose health and safety hazards.
"If employees hesitate to exercise their rights for fear of losing their jobs, these rights are meaningless," Jeffress said. "Too many employers feel they can retaliate against whistle-blowers with impunity."
Workers file more than 2,000 complaints a year contending that they have been dismissed, demoted or penalized for reporting health and safety violations to employers or to the government. But, Jeffress said, the existing federal law is "too weak and too cumbersome to discourage employer retaliation or to provide an effective remedy for the victims."
Even Republicans in Congress who have harshly criticized OSHA say new protections are probably needed, because workers have been punished for complaining about conditions that lead to illness and injury.
Such conditions include exposure to toxic chemicals; the use of dangerous machines, which can crush limbs; the use of contaminated needles, which expose workers to the AIDS virus; and the strain of repetitive hand motion, whether at a computer keyboard or in a meat packing plant.
Masten, the inspector general, scrutinized cases in which employees said they had been punished for reporting health and safety violations, and he concluded: "Workers, particularly with small companies, are vulnerable to reprisals by their employers for complaining about unsafe, unhealthy work conditions. The severity of the discrimination is highlighted by the fact that for 653 cases included in our sample, nearly 67 percent of the workers who filed complaints were terminated from their jobs."
Under the law, workers who believe they have been dismissed or punished for reporting workplace hazards may file complaints with the Labor Department within 30 days of the action taken against them.
The department will investigate, and it is supposed to file suit against the employer in a U.S. District Court if it concludes that the employer's action was illegal. Under the law, the court may order "all appropriate relief," including the rehiring or reinstatement of an employee with back pay.
The inspector general said the Labor Department rarely filed cases in court on behalf of whistle-blowers, even when OSHA found strong evidence of retaliation. In 1998, the department says, it received 2,474 complaints from workers but filed only 14 cases in court. In 1997, it received 2,124 complaints and filed 18 cases.
A Labor Department task force that studied the issue said such cases typically involved small amounts of money and were not a high priority for government lawyers or for the courts.
Clinton administration officials said they would ask Congress to give workers six months, rather than 30 days, to file complaints of retaliation.
Labor unions welcome the administration proposals. "Many employers feel free to fire or harass workers who report an injury, especially if the workers are not in a union," said Eric Frumin, the health and safety director at the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.
But Peter Eide, manager of labor law policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the proposals would "open the floodgates to meritless charges" by workers and their lawyers.
Pub Date: 3/15/99