A Fort Worth–based trucking company has been ordered to reinstate and compensate a truck driver who federal investigators say was illegally terminated after reporting safety concerns.
The Department of Labor has ruled that Balkan Express violated federal whistleblower protections when it fired the driver, whose complaints were protected under the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA), according to agency findings released this week.
Following an investigation by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Balkan Express was ordered to rehire the driver and pay back wages, interest, compensatory damages and punitive damages totaling more than $100,000, the agency said…