OSHA Orders Firm to Pay Driver $185K Over Fatigue, Illness Safety Violations
Contractor must compensate a driver of a trailer similar to the one shown for allegedly violating laws over driver fatigue or fitness to drive safely.
Photo: Getty Images/vitpho
Federal safety officials have ordered a large asphalt paving supplier and contractor in West Virginia and Tennessee to reinstate a low-boy trailer driver and provide $185,000 in back pay and other compensation, after he filed a whistleblower lawsuit saying he was retaliated against for complaining about fatigue or illness-related absences last year.
The employer, W-L Construction & Paving Inc. is a Chilhowie, W.Va., subsidiary of CRH Americas that operates in West Virginia and Tennessee and has about 250 employees. The name of the driver has not been disclosed.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it first notified the company in July 2023 that its assigned work would exceed federal safety requirements for sufficient rest breaks and limits on how many hours commercial drivers are on duty.
OSHA claimed the company then "ignored the driver's concerns and, for two more months, continued to assign loads and routes the driver refused because of illness or fatigue behind the wheel." W-L Construction & Paving then allegedly cited the driver 10 times for being absent or leaving early and then fired the driver, the agency said.
W-L Construction & Paving said in a statement that the company strongly disagrees with OSHA's finding and will appeal.
"The safety of our drivers is always a priority,' the company stated. And safety includes "providing a work environment where employees are encouraged to speak up and to share any concerns about working conditions."
The incidents that led to the trouble occurred mainly in July and August of 2023. The driver had asked not to work a shift after breaking a tooth on the way to work and then also the next after treatment at the dentist when his face was swollen and vision compromised. A week later, according to OSHA, the driver declined to make one more run when after working a 63-hour week that exceeds federal hour limits for truck drivers, he was called back for another run but had already consumed alcohol and declined.
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One month later, the driver called in sick and said he could not drive at that time.
The company investigated the driver's record and found 10 attendance violations, but OSHA said three were protected by labor law or regulations and that none involved "no shows" without calling in first, which would have violated the company's attendance policy.
"W-L Construction & Paving Inc. illegally retaliated against an employee who raised legitimate concerns about [the] ability to meet the company's demands without jeopardizing [his] safety or that of others," said OSHA Regional Administrator Michael J. Rivera in Philadelphia.
Following a whistleblower investigation, OSHA ordered W-L Construction & Paving and parent company CRH Americas to reinstate the driver and pay $58,318.25 in back wages and interest, $115,694 in compensatory damages, $10,000 in punitive damages and attorney's fees.
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