The Department of Labor (DOL) has petitioned the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to force the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to comply with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) subpoenas, OSHA announced November 21.

The agency is conducting a whistleblower investigation at the USPS’s New Salem, Pennsylvania, facility. OSHA opened an investigation in October 2023 after an employee alleged in a whistleblower complaint that she was suspended after reporting a work-related injury and safety hazards involving an assigned vehicle.

The agency learned that immediately after an interview with a USPS manager regarding the suspension, USPS supervisors began surveilling the employee as she drove her truck. They later claimed to have seen the employee violating safety rules and then fired her based on the alleged infractions.

The employee amended her whistleblower complaint to include the termination as an additional act of retaliation.

The DOL has filed nine federal whistleblower suits since 2020 to protect USPS probationary employees who were fired after reporting injuries in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.

OSHA issued two subpoenas in the New Salem investigation:

• A subpoena to re-interview the manager, including making an audio recording of the interview, but the USPS refused to allow the audio recording unless OSHA also hired a court reporter to transcribe the interview.
• A document subpoena to obtain relevant documents and information. The USPS refused to produce certain documents.

The DOL has asked the court to enforce both subpoenas.

“OSHA has the power to subpoena employers for necessary information to complete its investigative process,” Michael J. Rivera, OSHA’s Philadelphia regional administrator, said in an agency statement. “Employers cannot refuse to produce relevant documents and are not entitled to dictate the way in which OSHA conducts interviews.”

In addition to the whistleblower suits, OSHA has had recent history with the USPS. Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission vacated four OSHA USPS citations for letter carriers’ excessive heat exposure. Relying on USPS public statements that it’s running out of funds, the review commission declared OSHA’s recommendations for hazard mitigation “economically infeasible.”

OSHA: Treatment facility improves safety measures following stabbing

On November 21, OSHA acknowledged that Signature Health Inc. has taken steps to improve workplace safety at its mental health treatment facility in Maple Heights, Ohio, after a patient violently attacked a nurse practitioner in April.

Agency investigators learned that a patient stabbed an employee repeatedly with a knife that the patient brought into the facility. Despite the risk of injury, the facility’s lone security guard and other coworkers were able to halt the attack.

OSHA cited Signature Health with a serious violation under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act’s General Duty Clause for failing to protect employees from workplace violence. Signature Health had entered into a settlement agreement with OSHA and agreed to pay a $16,131 penalty.

Since the incident, Signature Health has taken steps at the Maple Heights facility to improve worker safety and will expand its program corporatewide; the program includes the following elements:

• Installing weapons detection equipment;
• Hiring risk consultation specialists to review procedures;
• Establishing a position focused on workplace violence prevention and emergency response;
• Strengthening its workplace violence prevention program by updating policies and procedures like the Weapon Response and Preparedness Procedure;
• Conducting employee training on how objects other than obvious weapons, such as guns and knives, can be used as weapons;
• Establishing workplace violence committees; and
• Adding signage stating that no weapons are allowed.

“Since this disturbing incident, Signature Health has worked diligently with OSHA to improve its safety programs and has enacted measures to reduce the likelihood of future incidents,” Howard Eberts, OSHA’s Cleveland area office director, said in a statement.