['Business planning - Motor Carrier', 'Whistleblower Protection Program']
['Whistleblower Protection Program', 'Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations']
07/24/2024
...
Employers are prohibited from discharging, disciplining, discriminating, or otherwise retaliating against an employee regarding pay, terms, or privileges of employment because an employee engaged in certain protected activities.
Scope
These requirements apply to employers, including motor carriers, shippers, receivers, and transportation intermediaries.
Regulatory citations
- 49 U.S.C 31105 — Employee protections
- 29 CFR 1978.102 — Obligations and prohibited acts
Key definitions
- Motor carrier: A for-hire motor carrier or a private motor carrier. The term includes a motor carrier’s agents, officers, and representatives as well as employees responsible for hiring, supervising, training, assigning, or dispatching of drivers and employees concerned with the installation, inspection, and maintenance of motor vehicle equipment and/or accessories.
- Receiver: A person who takes delivery from a motor carrier or driver of a commercial motor vehicle of property transported in interstate or intrastate commerce.
- Shipper: A person who tenders property to a motor carrier or driver of a commercial motor vehicle for transportation in interstate or intrastate commerce.
Summary of requirements
It is a violation for any person to intimidate, threaten, restrain, coerce, blacklist, discharge, discipline, harass, suspend, demote, or in any other manner retaliate against any employee because the employee:
- Filed a complaint with an employer, government agency, or others or begun a proceeding related to a violation of a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety or security regulation, standard, or order;
- Testified or will testify at any proceeding related to a violation of a CMV safety or security regulation, standard, or order;
- Refuses to operate a vehicle because:
- The operation violates a regulation, standard, or order related to CMV safety, health, or security, or
- The employee has a reasonable apprehension of serious injury to the employee or the public because of the CMV’s hazardous safety or security condition;
- Accurately reports hours on duty;
- Cooperates or is about to cooperate with a safety or security investigation Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or the National Transportation Safety Board; or
- Furnishes or is about to furnish information to the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the National Transportation Safety Board, or any federal, state, or local regulatory or law enforcement agency as to the facts relating to any accident or incident resulting in injury or death to an individual or damage to property occurring in connection with CMV transportation.
To qualify for protection, the employee must have sought from the employer, and been unable to obtain, correction of the hazardous safety or security condition.
Employees who believe that they have been retaliated against by an employer may file a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
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['Business planning - Motor Carrier', 'Whistleblower Protection Program']
['Whistleblower Protection Program', 'Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations']
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