OSHA Announces Meeting for Whistleblower Protection in Financial Services Industry

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will host a meeting next month during which it will ask the public for input for feedback regarding whistleblower protection among financial services workers. Scheduled for October 16 at the organization's headquarters in Washington D.C., it's the second meeting of its kind. The two-hour-long meeting will involve discussions between OSHA officials, the public and workers in the financial services industry about whistleblower protection rights.

What is whistleblower protection exactly? Whistleblower protection is designed to protect workers who report injuries, hazards or safety violations from retaliation by their employer. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for employers to reprimand, demote or fire workers for reporting such incidents. If a worker discovers a hazard, for example, he or she may report it to OSHA. Under OSHA's whistleblower protection laws, employers cannot penalize or retaliate against workers for reporting such hazards.

While OSHA has talked about whistleblower protection in the past, this upcoming meeting is designed specifically for the financial services industry. Under OSHA's current guidelines, there are nearly two dozen statues that protect workers from retaliation. These statues cover workers in the commercial airline, motor vehicle, product manufacturing, environmental, financial services, food services, healthcare reform, nuclear, pipeline, transportation, railroad, maritime and securities industries.

Explains explains that workers cannot be transferred, have their hours reduced, fired or retaliated against in any way because they reported a safety violation or hazard. This is part of the OSHA Act, and it's essential to creating a safe working environment for millions of Americans. If employers are allowed to retaliate against workers for reporting such incidents, hazards would remain unnoticed, thereby increasing the risk of work-related injury and illness.

Even in the financial services industry, workers are often retaliated against by their employer for reporting safety violations and hazards. OSHA's upcoming meeting seeks to identify and improve whistleblower protection laws in the financial services industry so that these workers can be free from retaliation. It's just one more way that OSHA is protecting the millions of hardworking Americans.

"You cannot be transferred, denied a raise, have your hours reduced, be fired, or punished in any other way because you used any right given to you under the OSH Act. Help is available from OSHA for whistleblowers," explained OSHA on the whistleblower protection section of its website.

You can learn more about OSHA's whistleblower protection laws by visiting the OSHA.gov here.