US Department of Labor finds Union Pacific Railroad
in violation of Federal Railroad Safety Act
for retaliating against whistleblower in Idaho
Railroad ordered to pay nearly
$25,000 in damages to employee

SEATTLE - The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Union Pacific Railroad Co. and a railroad official to pay $20,000 in punitive damages, $3,500 in compensatory damages for emotional distress and $1,323 in attorney's fees to an employee at the railroad's Pocatello, Idaho, facility. The order resulted from an investigation by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Seattle that was initiated upon receiving a complaint from the employee.

"It is critically important that Union Pacific Railroad employees in Pocatello and across the nation know that OSHA intends to defend the rights of workers to report safety concerns," said Dean Ikeda, OSHA's regional administrator in Seattle. "We will bring the full force of the law to make sure workers who are retaliated against for reporting health and safety concerns are made whole."

Continue reading OSHA Regional News Release