Successfully defended a whistleblower investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration against our client, an environmental cleaning contractor. The contractor was alleged to have violated the Surface Transportation Assistance Act when one of its drivers logged more than 10 hours on the road and then returned to work several hours later for another shift that required him to acquire, transport and dispose of a brine solution. The employee sustained severe burns to his skin when the brine leaked out of the hose used to transfer the hot brine from its holding tank to the transport tank. Shortly thereafter, he was fired for a culmination of subsequent policy infractions, which he claimed was retaliation for reporting an OSHA violation regarding the brine transfer. The defense proved that the employee’s own negligence caused his burn injuries and that the subsequent infractions were further evidence of irresponsibility and disregard for corporate policies that track this heavily regulated industry.