Federal safety officials have ordered a major asphalt paving supplier and contractor in West Virginia and Tennessee to reinstate a low-performing tow truck driver and provide him with $185,000 in back pay and other compensation, after he filed a Complainant’s lawsuit saying he was retaliated against for complaining about fatigue. or absences due to illness last year.
The contractor, WL Construction & Paving Inc. is a subsidiary of CRH Americas in Chilhowie, WV, which operates in West Virginia and Tennessee and has approximately 250 employees. The driver’s name has not been released.
WL Construction & Paving could not immediately be reached for comment by phone or email, but it’s possible the company could challenge the order on appeal or have it reduced.
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration said so first notified the company in July 2023 that the assigned work would exceed federal safety requirements for sufficient breaks and limits on how many hours commercial drivers are on duty.
OSHA claimed the company “ignored the driver’s concerns and, for two more months, continued to assign loads and routes that the driver refused due to illness or fatigue behind the wheel.” The agency said WL Construction & Paving cited the driver 10 times for being absent or leaving early and then fired him.
The incidents leading to the problems occurred mainly in July and August 2023. The driver had asked not to work a shift after breaking a tooth on the way to work and also the following one after treatment at the dentist when His face was swollen and his vision was compromised. A week later, according to OSHA, the driver refused to do another run when, after working a 63-hour week that exceeds federal hour limits for truck drivers, he was called back for another run. career, but he had already consumed alcohol and refused.
A month later, the driver called in sick and said he couldn’t drive at the time.
The company investigated the driver’s record and found 10 attendance violations, but OSHA said three were protected by labor laws or regulations and none involved “no-shows” without calling first, which would have violated the company’s assistance policy.
“WL Construction & Paving Inc. unlawfully retaliated against an employee who raised legitimate concerns about [the] ability to meet the demands of the company without endangering [his] safety or the safety of others,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Michael J. Rivera in Philadelphia.
Following a whistleblower investigation, OSHA ordered WL Construction & Paving and parent company CRH Americas to reinstate the driver and pay $58,318.25 in back wages and interest, $115,694 in compensatory damages, $10,000 in punitive damages and attorney fees.
