OSHA Issues New Whistleblower Complaint Form

OSHA administers more than twenty whistleblower protection laws, including Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, which prohibits retaliation against employees who complain about unsafe or unhealthful conditions or exercise other rights under the Act. Each law has a filing deadline, varying from 30 days to 180 days, which starts when the retaliatory action occurs.

A whistleblower complaint must allege four key elements:

• The employee engaged in activity protected by the whistleblower protection law(s) (such as reporting a violation of law);
• The employer knew about, or suspected, that the employee engaged in the protected activity;
• The employer took an adverse action against the employee;
• The employee’s protected activity motivated or contributed to the adverse action.

OSHA just released a revised online whistleblower complaint form here: https://www.osha.gov/whistleblower/WBComplaint.html