There was no way to keep a safe distance between them on the shop floor, where they made safety mats for the machines, and some of the men had been ill with flu-like symptoms. Better safe than sorry.
Management was not happy. Collins received a text message from one of his supervisors saying that masks would be worn to protect workers from wood chips, metal particles and other occupational safety hazards. If the workers did not stop using the masks for this purpose, the supervisor would send a text message: “We will have to save them as if they were candy!”
“I was shocked,” said Collins, 38. “They weren’t taking it seriously.”
Shortly after that, Collins went on a planned vacation. When he returned a week later, the company told him to self-quarantine at home for two weeks because he had been traveling.
His coworkers, he said, told him recommended safety measures, such as wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, had not been implemented. When he told Human Resources that he feared becoming infected and endangering his mother and 8-year-old nephew who live with him, he said, he received an ultimatum: go back to work or quit.
Collins stayed home and says he was fired. He hired an attorney and filed a complaint in New Jersey Superior Court under the state’s whistleblowing law, the Conscientious Employee Protection Act. The law prohibits employers from firing, demoting, or retaliating against workers who refuse to participate in activities that they believe are inconsistent with public health and safety mandates.
As many employers, with strong encouragement from the Trump administration, move to bring employees back, a growing number of workers are resisting what they see as unsafe and unsanitary conditions. In recent months, some states have passed laws specifically designed to protect workers facing COVID-related safety risks and retaliation for speaking out about them. Some states, like New Jersey, already have whistleblower protection laws.
U.S. Department of Labor, is responsible for enforcing 23 federal whistleblowing statutes that protect workers from retaliation if they report workplace safety violations work, among other problems.
But according to a new analysis, the agency is not up to scratch. The National Employment Law Project, an investigative and advocacy group for workers, found that of the 1,744 COVID-related retaliation complaints filed with OSHA between April and mid-August, 20% were investigated and 2% resolved. . More than half were fired or closed without investigation.
The numbers are growing. Whistleblower complaints filed with OSHA increased 30% between February and May, to 4,101, according to an August report from the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General criticizing the agency’s handling of complaints.
Nearly 40% of the complaints, 1,618, were related to COVID-19, the report found, filed primarily by workers who claimed to have been punished for reporting workplace safety violations. These could include, for example, not having adequate personal protective equipment or sanitary supplies, or a lack of social distancing at work.
While complaints increased, the number of whistleblower investigators decreased from the previous year, according to the report.
Whistleblower worker protections under the Occupational Safety and Health Act are “incredibly weak” compared to whistleblower statutes that protect employees who report other types of wrongdoing, Berkowitz said. Consumer advocates would like to see those provisions changed.
