AARP reports that Dr. Farid Fata in Michigan has been accused of prescribing unnecessary chemotherapy treatments to his patients, including some who didn’t even have cancer. Dr. Fata’s nurse, Angela Swantek, noticed that medications were being administered improperly and patients were in the chair longer than necessary, which created more money for the doctor. Dr. Fata allegedly bilked Medicare for $91 million. Ms. Swantek was afraid of retaliation because Fata “oversees my license.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) has a Whistleblower Protection Program that protects workers’ from adverse action by employers (such as firing or laying off, blacklisting, demotion, denial of benefits, intimidation, threats, and/or reduction of pay or hours) for exercising their rights under OSHA. An employee has the right to file an OSHA complaint, participate in an inspection, talk to an inspector, seek access to employer exposure and injury records and raise a safety or health complaint with the employer. If your employer does discriminate or retaliate against you, you have the right to file a retaliation complaint with OSHA.
No specific form is required to file a complaint but you can: (1) send a letter to OSHA (to find the contact information for your nearest OSHA office go to www.osha.gov/html/RAmap.html); (2) call the OSHA area office located nearest to you; (3) download and send a completed Notice of Whistleblower Complaint Form to your OSHA area office (www.whistleblowers.gov/whistleblower_complaint.pdf); or (4) file an online complaint (https://www.osha.gov/whistleblower/WBComplaint.html). However, your discrimination complaint must be filed with OSHA within 30 days of the alleged retaliation.
