OSHA Ordering Employer to Reinstate Illegally Fired Seaman

Monday, December 23, 2019 | 0

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered a petroleum barge company in New York to reinstate a seaman who the agency said was illegally fired in retaliation for cooperating with a U.S. Coast Guard safety investigation.

The barge Buster Bouchard/B. No. 255 exploded near Port Arkansas, Texas, on Oct. 20, 2017. The blast killed two Bouchard Transportation employees. A brother of one of the victims, who also worked for the company, claimed he was fired three months after reporting safety concerns to the Coast Guard.

OSHA said the Seaman's Protection Act makes the reporting of alleged violations of maritime safety laws and regulations a protective activity.

And the agency concluded that Morton S. Bouchard, III, Brendan Bouchard, and Kevin Donohue, of Bouchard Transportation Company Inc., fired the seaman in retaliation for engaging in protected activities.

OSHA Bouchard Transportation Company Inc. of Melville, New York, to pay the seaman back pay with interest and damages; two years of lost wages; $50,000 for emotional distress, pain and suffering, loss of reputation, and mental anguish; and $200,000 in putative damages for reckless disregard of the law.

OSHA also ordered the employer not to make any adverse statements about the worker and to train managers about and employees about the rights protected under the Seaman's Protection Act. The company must provide proof of such training to OSHA.

OSHA did not identify the person who was fired, citing its policy not to release the names of employees involved in whistleblower complaints.