The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Union Pacific Railroad Co., headquarteredin Omaha, to pay a total of $400,000 in punitive damages, $90,315in compensatory damages, $34,900 in attorney fees and more than$90,000 in back wages to three employees. Separate investigationsby the Kansas City, Mo., and San Francisco, Calif., offices of thedepartment's Occupational Safety andHealth Administration (OSHA) determined that the companyviolated the whistleblower protection provisions of the Federal RailroadSafety Act (FSRA) by terminating two employees and suspendingone in retaliation for reporting workplace safety concerns and awork-related injury.

“Workers have the right to report work-related injuries andsafety concerns without fear of retaliation,” said AssistantSecretary for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. “Union Pacific Railroad hascreated a climate of fear instead of a climate of safety. Thecompany must take immediate steps to change this unacceptablepattern of retaliation.”

A Kansas City, Mo.-based Union Pacific Railroad conductor wasterminated from employment in September 2010 after making repeatedcomplaints to the company's hotline about safety concerns, such asfall and trip hazards, missing and obstructed roadway signs, andvarious right-of-way issues, and for noting that a supervisorviolated safety procedures during a field test. The railroad alsocited the conductor for having a tattoo that it deemed as creatinga hostile work environment. The conductor received the tattoo,which commemorates his military service, prior to beginning hisemployment with the company in 2004.

OSHA ordered that the conductor be reinstated to his positionand receive punitive damages of $150,000, attorney fees of $11,925,compensatory damages of $10,258.51 and biweekly back wages in theamount of $3,437.10 covering Sept. 15, 2010, through Jan. 1, 2011,as well as biweekly payments of $3,527.02 retroactive to Jan. 1,2011, and continuing until a bona fide order of reinstatement ismade by Union Pacific Railroad.

A second Kansas City, Mo.-based conductor was suspended withoutpay from his job for five days in November 2010 after makingseveral complaints to the company's hotline regarding rough spotson the track. OSHA has ordered that the conductor receive punitivedamages of $100,000, attorney fees of $10,725, compensatory damagesof $5,056.50 and back wages in the amount of $2,170.79,representing loss of pay from a one-day investigative hearing andthe five-day suspension.

The third Union Pacific Railroad employee, a locomotive engineerbased in Tucson, Ariz., was terminated after reporting a workplaceinjury in August 2009. OSHA has ordered that the 32-year companyemployee receive $150,000 in punitive damages, $75,000 incompensatory damages and $12,250 in attorney fees.

This action follows two other orders issued by OSHA to UnionPacific Railroad in 2010 and 2011, which found that the company hadsimilarly retaliated against other workers for reportingwork-related injuries. The railroad operates in 23 states andemploys more than 40,000 workers.

OSHA conducted the latest investigations under the whistleblowerprovisions of the FRSA, as amended by the 9/11 Commission Act of2007. Railroad carriers are subject to the provisions of the FRSA,which protects employees who report violations of any federal law,rule or regulation relating to railroad safety or security, or whoengage in other protected activities.

OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the FRSA and 20other statutes protecting employees who report violations ofvarious airline, commercial motor carrier, consumer product,environmental, financial reform, food safety, health care reform,nuclear, pipeline, public transportation agency, railroad, maritimeand securities laws.