Montgomery County Company To Pay $1M For Retaliatory Firings

MONTGOMERYVILLE, PA — The founder of a Montgomery County manufacturing company was ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.04 million to two former employees who were fired for participating in an OSHA investigation.

Lloyd Industries Inc. and owner, William P. Lloyd, of Montgomeryville, must pay $1,047,399 in lost wages and punitive damaged to two former workers who helped U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigates an incident in which one of the employees’ co-workers suffered the amputation of three fingers.

A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has awarded $1,047,399 in lost wages and punitive damages to two former employees of a Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, manufacturer after a jury found the company and its owner fired them in retaliation for their participation in a federal safety investigation.

On April 2, a jury determined that the manufacturing company and Lloyd illegally fired the employees because they participated in a 2014 OSHA inspection.

Lloyd Industries fired one of the employees after OSHA began an onsite investigation, and fired the second employee shortly after OSHA issued citations and assessed Lloyd Industries with penalties.

The court’s award of $500,000 in punitive damages is the largest punitive award ever under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act.

The court justified the award in light of the defendants' "deliberative flouting of the act."

In addition to damages, the judge awarded the former employees $547,399 in front and back pay, prejudgment interest, and additional amounts to compensate for the adverse tax consequences of their receiving a large, one-time payment.

The judge also ordered that the company and Lloyd himself post an anti-retaliation notice at the plant immediately, and never again violate Section 11(c) of the OSH Act.

“The court recognized that all employees have a federally protected right to speak out against unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, to participate in U.S. Department of Labor investigations, and to be compensated if they are terminated in retaliation for exercising those rights,” said Regional Solicitor Oscar L. Hampton III, in Philadelphia. “The significant punitive damages sends a strong message to this employer and others that deliberately violating these laws will not be tolerated.”