Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/685770
16 PalletCentral • May-June 2016 palletcentral.com the past or chose to speak privately to an inspector. Penalties for whistleblower violations include "make whole" relief for the affected worker – such as reinstatement, back pay, and restoration of benefit and seniority, or purging the worker's personnel file of any adverse actions such as suspensions or written warnings. In several recent cases during 2015, however, the U.S. District Court (which litigates these matters) awarded over $200,000 in compensatory/punitive damages against the employer in Section 11(c) proceedings. So the costs of mishandling a complaint case, by subjecting the complainant to adverse action, can be extremely high. The bottom line is that safety and health complaint-based OSHA inspections are often ones where OSHA comes in with an axe to grind because they perceive that things are so bad safety- wise that the employee had no recourse but to call in the authorities. Therefore OSHA will be suspicious of the employer's attitude to safety, and the company's programs and training will be heavily scrutinized. The employer's credibility level may not be the best in OSHA's eyes so the best strategy is to be responsive to internally raised safety concerns at the outset because employees who feel that the employer is responsive will be much less likely to call OSHA in the first place. In addition, when layoffs or terminations are planned, employers should take care that they do not target workers with protected Sec. 11(c) status in a disparate manner and, if a complainant must be disciplined or terminated, ensure that you have a documented, legitimate business reason for doing so that can withstand scrutiny if a Sec. 11(c) complaint is filed and investigated by OSHA. PC SAFETY Adele L. Abrams is an attorney and safety professional who represents companies in litigation with OSHA and also provides safety training and consultation. The Law Office of Adele L. Abrams PC has three offices: Beltsville, MD; Denver, CO; and Charleston, WV. Adele can be reached at 301-595-3520 or www.safety-law.com. The best strategy is to be responsive to internally raised safety concerns at the outset because employees who feel that the employer is responsive will be much less likely to call OSHA in the first place.