You have the option to file an anonymous complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Some employees choose to file anonymously because they worry about retaliation from their employers.
You can also choose to provide your personal information when filing a claim, which may make it easier for OSHA to gather information about the issue, increasing the odds that the agency can take action against your employer.
You can learn more about these options with a Boston OSHA workplace health and safety claims lawyer.
Are Your OSHA Complaints Anonymous?
OSHA allows anonymous complaints to encourage workers who might otherwise be reluctant to come forward. OSHA understands that many people fear retaliation from their employers, which makes them hesitant to attach their names to the complaints.
If you are aware of a health and safety violation at your workplace and your employer fails to take action to remove the hazard, you should file a complaint.
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You Can File a Complaint with Your Personal Information
While you can file an anonymous complaint with OSHA, it is always better to provide them with your name and contact information. OSHA may require additional information to take action, and speaking with you further can be crucial.
While your employer can find out who filed the complaint if you choose not to file anonymously, legally, they cannot take any type of action against you as a result.
Protection Against Retaliation
It is unlawful for employers to take any action against employees for filing a complaint with OSHA. Workers have a variety of protections in place to protect them from retaliatory action and to help encourage others to come forward to report a safety or health hazard in a work environment.
There are federal and state laws that protect workers against retaliation from their employers for filing a complaint with OSHA or taking various other protected actions. Your employer cannot legally:
- Fire you
- Demote you
- Cut your salary
- Take any other negative action against you in response
However, employers can ignore these laws after an employee makes a safety complaint. In this situation, a Boston labor and employment lawyer can step in to help, protecting an employee’s rights after a wrongful termination or another act of retaliation.
Lawyers take retaliation cases very seriously, and in addition to being restored to your previous work status and recovering money for any lost wages, you could collect far more money in punitive damages.
Ensure a Violation Occurred Before Contacting OSHA
When considering filing a complaint with OSHA, it is critical that you verify that a violation actually occurred before you request an OSHA inspection. You need to understand that OSHA does not address all safety hazards. Some industries have unavoidable hazards, and OSHA acknowledges this situation.
For example, construction jobs often involve working at great heights and with heavy machinery. These dangers are unavoidable, but employers can take steps to minimize them. Proper safety equipment and training are critical to decreasing dangers.
What Are Your Employer’s Responsibilities?
Your employer must provide a reasonably safe workplace. For example, employers may need to focus on eliminating unnecessary dangers and providing safety training and equipment.
Your employer should remove any unnecessary dangers as soon as reasonably possible and ensure that anyone on the job site is aware of the hazard until someone can fix it. If your employer fails to address this type of hazard, you should contact OSHA as soon as possible to report the violation.
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File Your Complaint With OSHA Promptly
It is critical to ensure that you contact OSHA to report any violation within 30 days of discovering the health and safety hazard to ensure that OSHA can take care of the problem in a timely manner.
You can file a complaint with OSHA’s online complaint form. You may also send a letter to your local OSHA office or call OSHA to report an imminent danger.
Remember, some OSHA complaints are anonymous, though you can also provide personal information. You get to decide the exact information you want to share.
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What Happens After You File a Complaint With OSHA?
When you file an OSHA complaint, OSHA will schedule an inspection of your workplace. If they discover any violations, they will order your employer to remove the hazards found and provide training for employees who faced exposure to those hazards.
OSHA may also end up issuing citations against your employer for any violations, depending on a variety of factors, including:
- The number of violations
- The severity of the hazards
- If your employer has any past violations
When you file a report with OSHA, you are not required to be present during the inspection. However, you can participate in the inspection if you desire.
Your participation can be helpful to inspectors as you can help show them the specific violations that you noticed and give them background on any action that someone took in connection with the violations.
Talk to Us About Retaliation After an OSHA Complaint
So, are OSHA complaints anonymous? You can report an issue to OSHA anonymously. You can also choose to share your personal information when making a complaint.
If your employer fires you or takes any other retaliatory action against you for filing an OSHA complaint, you should contact an experienced employment attorney as soon as possible.
At Duddy, Goodwin & Pollard, we can ensure you are protected if you choose to give your name when filing an OSHA complaint.
Our experienced team of Boston employment and labor lawyers will use every resource at our disposal to ensure you don’t suffer any adverse effects from reporting a health and safety hazard.
Contact us today by phone or through our website to set up a free case evaluation with a member of our legal team. We’ll review your case, answer all your questions, and inform you of your legal options.
We have the legal training, experience, and resources to address all of your needs.
Call or text (860) 999-9394 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form