Employer retaliation prohibitions

Under 24.102(a) employers are prohibited from discharging or otherwise retaliating against an employee because the employee engaged in protected activities. See 24.102 for the rule that bars adverse actions affecting compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment.

Under 24.102(b) employees are protected if they: started or are about to start a proceeding under a covered statute, testified or are about to testify in such a proceeding, or assisted or are about to assist in such a proceeding. See 24.102(b) and its subparts 24.102(b)(1), 24.102(b)(2), and 24.102(b)(3).

Under 24.102(b) employer actions such as intimidating, threatening, restraining, coercing, blacklisting, discharging, disciplining, or otherwise retaliating against an employee are violations. The regulation lists these specific forms of retaliation to show the broad range of prohibited conduct; see 24.102(b).

Under 24.102(c) employees covered by the ERA are protected if they notified their employer of an alleged violation, refused to engage in an unlawful practice after identifying the illegality to the employer, or testified (or were about to testify) before Congress or at Federal/State proceedings. See 24.102(c) and its subparts 24.102(c)(1), 24.102(c)(2), and 24.102(c)(3).

Under 24.102(d)(1) every employer subject to the Energy Reorganization Act must prominently post and keep posted a legible copy of the OSHA notice (appendix A) or an Assistant Secretary–approved notice that explains the whistleblower protections. See 24.102(d)(1) for the posting requirement.

Under 24.102(d)(2) if the required posting was not displayed, the 180‑day filing deadline in 24.103(d)(2) generally does not apply unless the employer proves the employee actually knew the material provisions of the notice. See 24.102(d)(2).

Under 24.102(d)(2) the 180‑day period will ordinarily run from whichever date is relevant: the date the notice was posted after the retaliatory action occurred, or the date the complainant later obtained knowledge of the notice. See 24.102(d)(2).

Under 24.102(e) an employee who, acting without employer direction, deliberately causes a violation of any covered statute or the Atomic Energy Act is not protected by these rules. See 24.102(e).

Under 24.102(c)(2) an employee is protected for refusing to engage in an unlawful practice only if the employee has identified the alleged illegality to the employer. If the employee did not notify the employer of the illegality, the specific protection in 24.102(c)(2) may not apply.

Under 24.102(c)(3) employees are protected from retaliation for testifying or being about to testify before Congress or at any Federal or State proceeding about provisions (or proposed provisions) of the covered statutes or the AEA. See 24.102(c)(3).

Under the Part 24 framework the protections apply to the Federal employee protection provisions of six environmental statutes and Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act; those statutes are listed in 24.100(a). See 24 for general Part 24 information.

Under 24.102(b)(1) conduct is protected if the employee has commenced, caused to be commenced, or is about to commence or cause to be commenced a proceeding under a covered statute. This means planning or preparing to initiate such a proceeding can be protected; see 24.102(b)(1).

Under 24.102(b)(3) disciplining an employee because they assisted or participated in a proceeding or helped carry out the statute’s purposes is retaliation and is prohibited. Assisting a colleague in preparing testimony would fall under this protection; see 24.102(b)(3).

Under 24.102(b) the listed actions (intimidate, threaten, restrain, coerce, blacklist, discharge, discipline) are examples, and the phrase 'in any other manner retaliate' makes the prohibition broad rather than exhaustive—other adverse actions that retaliate are also covered. See 24.102(b).

Under 24.102(d)(2) yes — if the employer establishes that the complainant had actual knowledge of the material provisions of the notice, the 180‑day filing requirement (see 24.103(d)(2)) will apply despite the posting failure. See 24.102(d)(2).

Under 24.102(d)(1) employers can obtain copies of the required notice from the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, local OSHA offices, or OSHA's website; these copies satisfy the posting requirement described in 24.102(d)(1).

Under 24.102(e) the exclusion applies only to employees who, acting without direction from their employer or the employer’s agent, deliberately cause a violation; an employee ordered by the employer to cause a violation would not be 'acting without direction' and therefore would not automatically fall within that exclusion. See 24.102(e).