The
U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) has ordered Southern Air Inc., a Norwalk,
Conn.-based air cargo carrier, to withdraw a lawsuit it filed against
nine former employees and pay them more than $7.9 million in wages,
damages and legal fees.
Southern Air filed a defamation lawsuit
against the former employees in Connecticut Superior Court in May 2008
after some of the workers raised air carrier safety concerns with
Southern Air, OSHA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The
workers, all former flight crew members, subsequently filed a
whistleblower complaint with OSHA.
OSHA's investigation found
that the company's lawsuit was filed in retaliation for the workers'
protected activities under the whistleblower provisions of the Wendell
H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR21).
"This
order sends a strong and clear message that these and other workers
have the right to raise safety issues with their employers and
regulatory agencies without fear of retaliation and intimidation," said
U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "The Labor Department will
vigorously investigate such allegations and, where merited, order
appropriate remedies for workers."
As a result of its
investigation, OSHA issued a notice of findings and order to Southern
Air directing the airline to do the following:
* Withdraw its lawsuit.
* Pay the complainants $6,004,000 in lost future earnings, $1,800,000
in compensatory damages and $129,789 in legal fees and costs.
*
Purge each complainant's personnel file and other records of all
warnings, reprimands or derogatory references resulting from protected
whistleblower activity.
* Refrain from mentioning the complainants'
protected whistleblower activity or conveying any damaging information
in response to third party inquiries.
* Provide all Southern Air
crew members with copies of the FAA Whistleblower Protection Program
poster and OSHA's notice to employees, and post these in each Southern
Air facility.
The complainants and the airline have 30 days from
receipt of the findings to file an appeal with the Labor Department's
Office of Administrative Law Judges.
In addition to AIR21, OSHA
administers the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and
Health (OSH) Act and other statutes protecting employees who report
violations of various securities, trucking, airline, nuclear power,
pipeline, environmental, rail, public transportation and consumer
product safety laws. Detailed information on employee whistleblower
rights is available online at
http://www.osha.gov/dep/oia/whistleblower/index.html.
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