The data is in. Since FY 2014, the number of OSHA whistleblower investigators shrunk by 25% while the number of complaints ballooned by 30%. In FY 2018 alone, 1,137 private statutory retaliation complaints were filed, the majority by railroad workers under the Federal Rail Safety Act, followed by long-haul truckers under the STAA. Of all the cases resolved in 2018, three quarters were dismissed or withdrawn. In 2018, 60 cases opted out of OSHA into federal court.
For a fuller snapshot of OSHA’s whistleblower retaliation complaints data, including pie charts, click on this link For more on the whistleblower rights of workers on railroads and elsewhere, go to the free Rail Whistleblower Library.