harasssment abuse

i had been contacted by a temp agency saying they found a great job for me. they offered full time employment and a lot of money. at my first day on the job, the building was disgusting,dirty inadequate and unsafe. if i had even had the oppourtunity to see the work place i would have never accepted the job. i was required to handle hexane and cyclohexane as well as other very carcinogenic substances
with out any safty training or ANY VENTALATION in a very small room. the mananger was well aware of the toxicity
levels many years ago and did nothing to correct the situation.he was also never at the work place and was very difficult to contact. this action violateded the temp agency safty plan but because i had already quit my previous job i was financally obligated. after about a month of employment the building developed a sewer problem and the toilets were backing up and pumping raw sewage inside the building past the lunch room. with out having a working bathroom we were forced to work the rest of the day without a toilet and sewage on the floor. a fellow employee
got fed up (also a temp) and called osha a short time after i had arrived. the inspector showed up and cited numerous violations with building and safty issues. he did a prelimenary air study and said it would take a coulple of weeks to get results from the sample. results were never discussed by the manager (absentee).a few weeks after the fellow employee was fired for unknown reasons. about a month after i was laid off saying the company was downsizing. this proves to be completely bogus because the temp agency is posting my job as well as few more jobs. i believe the manager laid me off because he thinks i called osha. the osha man clearly stated that no one should be harassed or fired because of this .i now have been suffering for 6 weeks with severe anxiety and depression from lay off because i left a good job for this one.

should i persue this matter and get consultation from a local lawyer?
ps i am still unemployed.

best regards,

1 answer  |  asked Sep 19, 2005 10:03 AM [EST]  |  applies to New York

Answers (1)

David M. Lira
OSHA Retaliation

I really know very little about OSHA because remedies under OSHA are enforced by the agency, with very little opportunity for employees or their attorneys to participate. But my bet is that there is an anti-retaliation provision in OSHA that would probably apply to the temp agency as well as the employer who was cited with all the violations. Contact OSHA.

Further, if you are ill as a result of working at that place, you could file for workers' compensation benefits.

posted by David M. Lira  |  Sep 20, 2005 07:34 AM [EST]

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