Safety Regulators Back Nebraska Man Who Refused to Drive Truck

Federal safety regulators say a southeast Nebraska company wrongfully fired a driver who refused to operate a truck that violated Iowa law. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release that Jake Rieger Farms LLC violated the federal whistleblower law.

OSHA reported that on Jan. 16, 2015, Iowa commercial motor vehicle enforcement stopped and ticketed the driver of a Jake Rieger tractor-trailer truck. Iowa’s Department of Transportation said the vehicle was unsafe and lacked proper state registration, and directed the driver to a repair shop. The driver then contacted his employer and returned to Nebraska.

OSHA subsequently found that on Jan. 22, 2015, a co-worker drove the employee back to the repair shop in Corydon, Iowa, to retrieve the truck.

Jake Rieger Farms directed him to drive the vehicle — which still lacked proper registration — back to Nebraska. The company told the driver to start his return trip after law enforcement personnel left the area, OSHA said. When the driver refused to do so, the company terminated him and forced him to find his own transportation home to Nebraska, a distance of about 170 miles.

OSHA said Rieger should not have retaliated against an employee who wouldn’t drive a truck that Iowa law enforcement had deemed unsafe.

Federal officials ordered Rieger Farms to pay the driver $25,000 in punitive damages and $30,000 in compensatory damages, an amount that includes back wages, repayment for tickets paid by the driver that were issued by the Iowa DOT, attorney fees, transportation back to Nebraska and compensation for distress.