Washington, D.C. January 4, 2010. Today, President Obama signed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (H.R. 2571), which contains landmark whistleblower protections for food safety employees.
Highlights of the Food Safety Whistleblower Provision:
- Covers all employers "engaged in the manufacture, processing,
packing, transportation, distribution, reception, holding or importation
of food;"
- Allows workers have their case heard before a jury in federal
court;
- Provides for reinstatement, back pay and compensatory damages.
Richard Renner, Legal Director of the National Whistleblowers Center,
made the following statement:
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) will save American lives by
protecting the millions of American workers who grow, process, store and
deliver our food. Those workers now have modern whistleblower
protections when they raise concerns about the safety of our food.
It is important for working people to know that all legal claims have
time limits. The time limit under FMSA to file a written complaint with
OSHA is 180 days. For raising concerns about toxic chemicals, though,
the time limit is still 30 days. Whistleblowers usually get better
results when they work with an attorney experienced in employment
discrimination law.
The FMSA fills an important loophole left by the Consumer Product Safety
Improvement Act (CPSIA) in 2008. CPSIA does not cover food or medical
devices. FMSA is the first law to provide whistleblower protections for
workers covered by regulations of the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). While tainted food kills about 5,000 Americans a year,
medications may kill as many as 100,000 Americans every year. Yet
Congress has not extended whistleblower coverage to workers who raise
concerns about violations of the FDA's pharmaceutical regulations.
It is time to end the patchwork protection of whistleblowers and pass a
law that protects all workers when they raise concerns about health,
safety, fraud, illegality, and dangers to the environment.
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