Chalk one up for the little guy.
After nearly two years of investigation and hell for Anthony Araujo, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that New Jersey Transit violated the Federal Railroad Safety Act when it retaliated against him for reporting he had post-traumatic stress and needed time off.
Why did Tony Araujo have post-traumatic stress disorder? Well back on February 25th, 2008, Araujo witnessed a fatal accident as a New Jersey Department of Transportation contractor got burned from a 13,000-volt explosion. Following the accident, Araujo couldn’t sleep and was sent to counseling where they found he had PTSD.
NJ Transit, however, complained about Araujo’s lost-time reportable injury and retaliated against the worker by cutting his pay and then suspending him for a year. These retaliatory acts caused the employee significant financial and personal losses. Araujo lost his home to foreclosure, car, and credit rating after the railroad denied him benefits.
Araujo then filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA, alleging that the railroad had retaliated against him for reporting his work-related illness. OSHA's Whistleblower Protection Program conducted an investigation under the whistleblower provisions of the FRSA, found merit to the complaint and ordered relief.
"Railroad employees have the legal right to report work-related injuries and illnesses without fear of retaliation," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. "This case sends a clear message: Railroads that retaliate against employees for exercising their rights will be held accountable."
As a result of its findings, OSHA has ordered New Jersey Transit to take corrective actions, including expunging disciplinary actions taken against the employee and references to them from various records as well as compensating the worker for back pay, lost benefit payments, interest, compensatory damages and attorneys' fees totaling almost $500,000. In addition, OSHA has ordered the railroad to pay the complainant $75,000 in punitive damages. The railroad must also post and provide its employees with information on their FRSA whistleblower rights.
New Jersey Transit and the complainant have 30 days to file an appeal with the Labor Department's Office of Administrative Law Judges. Under the FRSA, employees of a railroad carrier and its contractors and subcontractors are protected against retaliation for reporting on-the-job injuries and illnesses, as well as reporting certain safety and security violations and cooperating with investigations by OSHA and other regulatory agencies.
OSHA enforces the whistleblower protection provisions of the FRSA and 16 other whistleblower statutes protecting employees who report violations of various workplace safety, securities, trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, public transportation and consumer product safety laws.
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