THE SITUATION

A company suspects that a plant safety director is underreporting injuries to make his numbers look better. It orders him to report certain kinds of injuries that haven’t been reported in the past. The safety director talks to OSHA and confirms that some of the injuries management wants reported aren’t reportable under OSHA standards. But management doesn’t care. The safety director defies the order to overreport and is fired. He claims he was fired in retaliation for talking to OSHA.

THE QUESTION

Did the company commit illegal retaliation by firing the safety director?

THE ANSWER

No.

THE EXPLANATION

Retaliation protections apply to workers who suffer reprisals for reporting wrongdoing by their company. But overreporting injuries isn’t illegal; in fact, companies that choose to overreport are voluntarily subjecting themselves to a more stringent safety standard. So the safety director’s refusal to overreport injuries was insubordination justifying termination.

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