Boston Injury Lawyer Blog
A hotel management company was recently forced to pay a worker $22,225 in back wages and compensatory damages after he was terminated for voicing workplace safety concerns.
The employee, who worked at the True North Devens Conference Center, filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA after he was subjected to disciplinary action and later terminated for reporting concerns of workplace safety to his managers in October 2011. Subsequently after the employee filed his claim, OSHA conducted its own investigation of the property and found that superiors had acted unjustly and that there was merit to the employee’s claim.
In response to the investigation, True North agreed to a settlement with the employee by paying back wages and compensatory damages, as well as expunging all disciplinary references and record of termination to the employee’s work file. The company pledged to take corrective action to prevent similar incidents from occurring by agreeing to educate its employees about workplace safety awareness and establishing a policy to protect against employee discrimination when they voice safety concerns. More specifically, True North implemented all of its locations with OSHA posters that outlined whistle-blower facts, and has planned to provide all of its employees with yearly training on whistle-blower rights and employer responsibilities.
Under OSHA law, employers are prohibited from retaliating against employees who raise concerns about their workplace, or who provide protected information to the employer or to the government. The United States government has come to rely heavily upon the help of whistleblowers who are able to provide sensitive information regarding company misconduct.
Most whistleblowers are internal whistleblowers who report misconduct about a coworker or superior within their company. While misconduct can take place in a wide range of settings, some of the more common types of fraud include:
• Pharmaceutical Fraud • Health and Safety Violations • Healthcare and Medicare Fraud • Securities and SEC Fraud • Financial and Bank Fraud Continue reading
Dzemilia Heco, 51, was left quadriplegic when the 2000 Dodge Neon she was driving was rear-ended in August, 2007. The driver’s seat, which was manufactured by Johnson Controls, Inc., collapsed, causing Heco to suffer from severe spinal-cord injuries. 
Regulators had received a series of complaints of patients being ignored, left unattended, and being left in bed without bed linens and only wearing hospital gowns, as well as reports of staff members being rude, disrespectful, mean, and abusive toward patients. These reports ultimately prompted investigators to search the unit where they found damaged furniture, missing privacy curtains in patient rooms, dirty floors, and absolutely squalid conditions. In addition, officials found that staff members did not know how to properly use the electronic record system used for maintaining patient records, which ultimately posed a risk of danger to patients being treated within the unit.
Freire, 45, suffered life-altering injuries including a brain injury, stroke, impaired speech and vision, as well as severe scarring when he was stabbed in the neck by Mayor. Mayor was arrested and convicted of assault and is now serving a 10-year prison sentence. 
Though the story did not end tragically, this situation serves as a reminder for parents to make keeping children safe around 
