SHAWNEE, Okla. -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma alleging that Shawnee, Okla.-based Modern Oil Co. Inc., doing business as Kwick Stop Convenience Stores, illegally terminated an employee because of complaints about workplace safety issues.
One of the company's employees complained to OSHA in July 2009 that workers were exposed to safety hazards at the Shawnee store where she worked by beverage boxes that were stacked too high, according [image-nocss] to the lawsuit filed July 15 in federal court in Oklahoma City cited by The Oklahoman. The employee previously had complained to the store manager, said the report.
The employee filed a whistleblower complaint with OSHA alleging retaliation in violation of Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety & Health Act, which prohibits discharge or other retaliation against workers for filing a safety or health complaint or for exercising a wide range of other rights afforded to them by the act.
OSHA investigators said they found that an employee was fired after complaining about the safety hazards at the Kwick Stop c-store in Shawnee. The employee, Monica Williams, was fired on Aug. 22, 2009, after the store manager figured out she was the one who had contacted the agency, according to the lawsuit cited by the newspaper (the Labor Department does not release names of employees involved in whistleblower complaints).
In addition to back pay and reinstatement, the Labor Department is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the employee, the report said.
Modern Oil Co. could not be reached for comment, The Oklahoman said.
"Employees should be free to exercise their rights under the law without fear of termination or retaliation by their employers," William A. Burke, OSHA's acting regional administrator in Dallas, said in a press release. "This lawsuit underscores the Labor Department's commitment to vigorously take action to protect those rights."
Modern Oil is comprised of approximately 30 gas station/c-stores in the Shawnee area. The company employs approximately 300 employees.
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