Here’s a message for HR to pass along to managers: When an employee raises a safety concern, it’s best to listen carefully instead of just ignoring them.
Why? Because some employees will take the problem to a regulatory agency.
That’s exactly what happened to Encore Management, Inc., in Arlington, TX, an apartment complex management company.
A community director at one of Encore’s complexes expressed concerns to her supervisor that a renovation project was exposing workers to asbestos.
Encore didn’t respond to her concerns, and she contacted the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). That agency found the apartment complex hadn’t performed sufficient asbestos testing before beginning renovations and had hired an unlicensed contractor to remove known asbestos material.
Then, the community director was fired.
She filed a complaint with federal OSHA, alleging she’d been fired by Encore in retaliation for filing the complaint with DSHS.
OSHA found the employee was terminated in violation of the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Now Encore has to pay its former employee $25,000 for lost wages, job-seeking expenses and out-of-pocket medical expenses.
