Telecom giants Deutsche Telekom AG and its subsidiary T-Mobile USA Inc. are in trouble over the dismissal of a T-Mobile employee in 2009. The U.S. Department of Labor recently ordered T-Mobile to pay the worker $345,972 in back wages and damages as a result of verified violations of the whistleblower-protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
T-Mobile is a mobile-network operator providing wireless voice, messaging, and data services based in Bellevue. Its mother company, Deutsche Telekom AG, is a telecommunications and information technology service company headquartered in Bonn, Germany.
Although OSHA workplace safety training—for instance, OSHA 10 training and OSHA 30—is now a pre-employment requirement by many employers, many workers remain unaware of their whistleblower rights while continuing to be exposed to avoidable worksite hazards because of employer ignorance, negligence, or plain disregard of basic health and safety standards.
The Department of Labor’s order came after an investigation by the Seattle office of the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was able to verify the dismissed employee’s complaint that his (or her) termination (OSHA does not reveal the particulars of complainants) came about because he had reported his concerns about fraudulent charges, amounting to millions of dollars in total, were being made to hundreds of accounts involving international corporate customers.
"The Sarbanes-Oxley Act provides protection to workers who report alleged violations of federal laws relating to fraud against shareholders," explained Dean Ikeda, the OSHA regional administrator in Seattle. "This case clearly shows the department's commitment to ensuring that individuals are provided the protections and relief afforded by the law, and sends a strong message that retaliatory actions will not be tolerated."
The various whistleblower provisions enacted by Congress uniformly prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who voice out concerns or supply information to the employer or the authorities, usually the government. According to OSHA, these concerns and information are considered protected under the law.
No comments:
Post a Comment