Despite the reputation of the Government not doing anything (and it’s not a wholly undeserved reputation), there are a lot of great Government agencies. They may not always do what we want or do it as fast as we want, but places like the EEOC, Illinois Department of Human Rights, and others do help a lot of people.

Another great agency at times is OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They are the people you call when your employer is not following appropriate safety rules or putting your health in danger. You can call them anonymously, and they may come out to your employer and do an investigation.

Filing a complaint to OSHA can be viewed as a form of whistle blowing. You are trying to protect yourself and/or co-workers from injury. And usually you are doing this after you’ve gone to an employer and asked them to remedy the problem.

Most employers are great, but some really are just assholes. I’ve heard some crazy stories over the years about really unsafe working conditions. In one case where people were having trouble breathing due to no ventilation in a facility which would get to over 100 degrees, the “solution” was to tell the workers they could crack open a door. In many cases I’ve seen people have to work without proper safety equipment or on machines that failed inspection tests.

OSHA can come in after an injury, but the goal is to prevent an injury. And while you can remain anonymous, there’s no guarantee that will happen. If your employer finds out and retaliates against you, that can be illegal and a lawsuit in Illinois.

Retaliation can be as simple as making your life miserable by bullying you or giving you unfavorable work assignments. Or quite often it means that you will get terminated. We consulted with one whistle blower who literally was fired a month after being named the top employee once the company discovered they filed an OSHA complaint.

The good news is most people do remain anonymous and don’t get retaliated against if found out. That said, if you have been retaliated against over this we’d love to talk to you to see if we can help. There’s no fee to talk and usually the cases are taken on a contingency basis which means there’s no fee at all unless the case is successful.

If you’d like to speak to a lawyer for free and in confidence, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.