Dive Brief:
- A Texas branch of national child care provider Little Sunshine Playhouse Operations must pay $43,295 in back wages and damages to an employee who was fired for reporting unsanitary and unsafe conditions, the U.S. Department of Labor announced Aug. 22.
- The worker had reported the childcare provider to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services in August 2023. Claims included food being kept at unsafe temperatures, the kitchen area being unsanitary and the kitchen not being cleaned overnight. The employee said they suffered “severe rashes” from the environment.
- DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated and ruled that the situation was a violation of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
Dive Insight:
Little Sunshine Playhouse Operations has 35 facilities in nine states. But the scope of the issues raised by this investigation are so much bigger than what happened in Texas.
The act that the Southlake child care provider violated is an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; it governs a host of food safety issues, including hazard analysis and employee protections.
The operator of a facility must “identify and evaluate known or reasonably foreseeable hazards that may be associated with the facility,” including “hazards that occur naturally, or may be unintentionally introduced.” Any hazard identified should be “significantly minimized or prevented,” the statute says.
It’s also up to the owner or operator to “monitor the effectiveness” of any preventive controls regarding food safety.
The employee section states that no “entity engaged in the manufacture, processing, packing, transporting, distribution, reception, holding, or importation of food” may fire or discriminate against an employee adhering to the Food Safety Modernization Act. And of course, anyone who feels that they have been fired or discriminated against in violation of the act can file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor.
Beyond worker protections under these federal food and drug regulations, OSHA has a Whistleblower Protection Program. It enforces the whistleblower provisions of several workplace safety laws: the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act and the Federal Railroad Safety Act, among others.
“Our investigation found Little Sunshine Playhouse Operations punished an employee who reported unsafe and unsanitary conditions in the facility’s kitchen out of concerns for the health of infants, young children and staff,” Dallas OSHA Regional Administrator Eric S. Harbin said in a statement.
Every employee has the right to voice safety concerns “without fear of an employer’s retaliation,” he added.