FALLS CITY, Neb. (AP) - Federal regulators want to punish a Falls City company that the regulators say wrongfully fired a driver who refused to operate a truck that violated Iowa law.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in a news release Thursday that Jake Rieger Farms LLC violated federal whistleblower law. OSHA says Rieger should not have retaliated against an employee who wouldn't drive a truck that Iowa law enforcement had deemed unsafe.
OSHA proposes that Rieger Farms pay the driver $25,000 in punitive damages and $30,000 in compensatory damages, which includes back wages.
The incident occurred in January 2015.
