OSHA Orders Building Materials Supplier to Reinstate Whistleblower Truck Driver

A federal whistleblower investigation has found a Virginia subsidiary of one of the world’s largest building materials manufacturers fired a truck driver in September 2023 illegally after the employee raised safety concerns.

The driver expressed concern that the loads and routes their employer routinely assigned left drivers fatigued and ill, endangering themselves and others on the road, according to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

OSHA determined that the employee of W-L Construction & Paving Inc. — a subsidiary of CRH, a global provider of building materials solutions — first notified the company in July 2023 that the assigned work would exceed federal safety requirements for sufficient rest breaks and limits on how many hours commercial drivers are on duty.

OSHA said the company ignored the driver’s concerns and, for two more months, continued to assign loads and routes the driver refused fearful of illness or fatigue behind the wheel. Then, after citing the driver for 10 attendance infractions – either for being absent or leaving early – W-L Construction’s management terminated the driver. OSHA determined that three of the absences were protected actions under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act.

“W-L Construction & Paving Inc. illegally retaliated against an employee who raised legitimate concerns about their ability to meet the company’s demands without jeopardizing their safety or that of others,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Michael J. Rivera.

OSHA has ordered the employer, its management and 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 plus attorney’s fees.

W-L Construction & Paving Inc. has more than 250 employees at 10 asphalt plants in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee. Its parent, CRH, is a global provider of building materials solutions with about 78,000 employees at nearly 3,400 locations in 28 countries. CRH provides road paving services in the region through subsidiaries, W-L Construction & Paving and West Virginia Paving.

OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program enforces the whistleblower provisions of more than 20 whistleblower statutes that protect employees from retaliation for reporting workplace safety and health violations.

Source: OSHA