{"id":8449,"date":"2016-02-12T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/?p=8449"},"modified":"2023-11-14T21:16:18","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T03:16:18","slug":"ny-company-fined-firing-worker-complained-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/material-handling\/ny-company-fined-firing-worker-complained-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"NY Company Fined for Firing Worker Who Complained about Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Mikadiou (via Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A trucking company in New York was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay more than $32,000 in damages to an employee who was fired after complaining that the trucks he was required to drive were unsafe.<\/p>\n

Brindi Trailer Sales and Services, of Meridale, New York, violated the so-called “whistleblower” provision of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, according to officials from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.<\/p>\n

Driver Complaints<\/strong><\/p>\n

The incident began back in 2011, when a new truck driver working at the company’s Brooklyn facility complained to management about the condition of his vehicle, including ineffective brakes, steering issues, non-functioning turn signals, leaks, and a cracked windshield.<\/p>\n

When the driver requested that the truck be fixed, the company refused. So he contacted the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which inspected the vehicle and found 16 violations.\u00a0The truck was ordered pulled from service until the necessary repairs could be made.<\/p>\n

Brindi\u00a0summarily fired the driver.<\/p>\n

Whistleblower Complaint<\/strong><\/p>\n

The driver then contacted OSHA, which investigated and substantiated his whistleblower complaint. The federal agency has now ordered Brindi — along with company owner Robert Urbina Brindi — to pay the operator $32,642.20 in lost wages and fined the company $10,000 in punitive damages. The company also was ordered to pay the driver’s $3,060.02 legal fees and expunge the driver’s employment records.<\/p>\n

The company has 30 days to appeal the agency’s findings to the US Department of Labor’s administrative law judges.<\/p>\n

Retaliation Not Legal<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator for New York, said the incident was a clear case of an employer retaliating against an employee who had a legitimate complaint.<\/p>\n

“This driver was fired for doing the right thing,” Kulick said in an OSHA news release<\/a>. “A defective truck is a danger not only to its driver but to other motorists on the road. Commercial truck drivers have a legal right to report safety issues to their employer without fear of termination or retaliation. Violating the law can put workers at risk and has costly consequences for the offending employer.”<\/p>\n

Protected Actions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Businesses are not allowed to retaliate against workers who raise various protected concerns or who provide protected information to the employer or to government agencies.<\/p>\n

Workers who believe they may have been retaliated against for protected actions can file a complaint with the US Secretary of Labor and request an investigation as part of OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A trucking company in New York was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay more than $32,000 in damages to an employee who was fired after complaining that the trucks he was required to drive were unsafe. Brindi Trailer Sales and Services, of Meridale, New York, violated the so-called “whistleblower” provision of the Surface Transportation Assistance … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,293],"tags":[976,1079],"class_list":["post-8449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-material-handling","category-news","tag-featured","tag-material-handling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12117,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions\/12117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahrns.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}