The Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted to achieve safer and more healthful workplaces throughout the nation. The Act provides for a wide range of substantive and procedural rights for employees and representatives of employees.

To help ensure that employees are, in fact, free to participation in safety and health activities, Section 11(c) of the Act prohibits any person from discharging or in any manner discriminating against any employee because the employee has exercised rights under the Act.

These rights include complaining to OSHA and seeking an OSHA inspection, participating in an OSHA inspection, and participating or testifying in any proceeding related to an OSHA inspection.

"Discrimination" can include the following actions:

• Firing or laying off
• Assigning to undesirable shifts
• Blacklisting
• Demoting
• Denying overtime or promotion
• Disciplining
• Denial of benefits
• Failure to hire or rehire
• Intimidation
• Transferring
• Reassigning work
• Reducing pay or hours

OSHA also administers the whistleblowing provisions of thirteen other statutes, protecting employees who report violations of various trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, and securities laws.

The 14 statutes enforced by OSHA and the regulations governing their administration are listed below. Click on any statute to review the text of the whistleblower protection provisions.

• Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA)

• The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 (STAA)

• The Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986 (AHERA)

• The International Safety Container Act of 1977 (ISCA)