America’s worksite-safety watchdog, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), announced this October that it is soon launching an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) pilot program. The program will address complaints filed with the agency’s Whistleblower Protection Program. According to OSHA, ADR is designed to help employees and employers resolve their disputes voluntarily and in a mutually beneficial manner.
The ADR program is initially slated for two OSHA regions and will provide two voluntary methods of ADR: mediation and early resolution. OSHA explained that whenever it receives a whistleblower complaint in one of the pilot regions, it will officially advise the parties concerned of their ADR options. If needed, they will send an OSHA regional ADR coordinator to employ these methods.
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Dr. David Michaels, said all this is in alignment with OSHA’s commitment to enforce the whistleblower laws enacted by Congress and protect the interests of the American worker. He emphasized that ADR facilitates resolution and offers immediate relief to the disputing parties.
The pilot communities for the program are Chicago and San Francisco, with the first (through the Chicago Regional Office) responsible for whistleblower cases in Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois; and the second (through the San Francisco Regional Office) in charge of whistleblower investigations filed in Nevada, California, Arizona, and the various Pacific islands, including Hawaii, Guam, Western Samoa, and the commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 stipulates that employers are responsible for providing safe worksites for their workers. OSHA's task is to ensure that safe conditions are always met by employers by setting protocols and enforcing standards, and by making available to both employees and employers training and assistance.
An important part of that responsibility is enforcing the whistleblower provisions of all 22 laws covering millions of workers in both the public and private sectors, in such diverse industries as transportation, air travel, pipeline, rail, health care, finance, and food. About 2,500 whistleblower complaints are filed every year with OSHA offices nationwide.
OSHA stated that details of the ADR program can be accessed at http://s.dol.gov/WV while information on the OSHA whistleblower program can be viewed at http://www.whistleblowers.gov and training courses can be accessed at http://www.oshacampus.com.
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