OSHA Orders Norfolk Southern to Pay Whistleblowers

Federal authorities have ordered Virginia’s Norfolk Southern Railway Co. to pay three whistleblowers more than $800,000 for firing workers who reported injuries on the job.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also ordered the company to expunge the disciplinary records of the whistleblowers, post workplace notices regarding whistleblower protection rights and provide training about those rights.

A worker in Greenville, S.C., was fired in August 2009 after reporting he was hurt when hit by the company’s gang truck. A Louisville, Ky., engineer was fired in March 2010 after reporting he tripped and fell in a locomotive restroom. In July 2010, a railroad conductor in Harrisburg, Pa., was terminated after reporting he blacked out and fell and hurt his head.

OSHA did not identify the workers.

The company can appeal the findings.