OSHA to hold public meeting about whistleblower issues
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The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will hold a public meeting about potential whistleblowing issues in the health care and retail industries and ways it can provide better assistance, the agency announced on the Federal Register.
In the first four months of 2020, OSHA saw a 30% increase in the number of whistleblower cases it received compared with the same period in 2019, according to a report in August by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General. Since the start of the pandemic, OSHA has received nearly 3,000 COVID-19-specific whistleblower complaints, the agency reported.
Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act states that “No person shall discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee” for filing a whistleblower complaint or any worker who “has testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding or because of the exercise by such employee on behalf of himself or others of any right afforded” by the act.
In the public meeting, scheduled for Oct. 13 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET via phone, the agency will solicit comments from stakeholders on the administration of whistleblower laws, such as how the agency can help explain whistleblower laws to employers and workers and deliver better customer service. Individuals have until Oct. 6 to register for the meeting or submit comments to OSHA.
More insurance and workers compensation news on the coronavirus crisis here.
