CA whistleblowers left hanging

It's illegal in California for an employer to fire or demote someone who reports hazardous conditions at work. But when there is retaliation, investigations drag on longer in California than in any other state, reports Myron Levin on the FairWarning Web site. Pretty amazing actually - while an OSHA law specifies that the cases be completed within 90 days, in California it takes more than 400 days on average (in Indiana it's 58 days). Not only that, the success rate is lower than the national average.

While Cal/OSHA checks job sites in the state for compliance with health and safety rules, a sister agency -- the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement -- has the job of investigating worker claims of retaliation for reporting safety violations or refusing to work under unsafe conditions. Roughly 200 of these complaints are logged per year. The main reason investigations drag on so long is that there are five investigators to clear a large backlog and handle new complaints. The investigators generally have averaged 40 to 60 open cases at a time apiece, according to the labor standards division. Many cases wind up being tossed out as "abandoned'' because complainants have given up or can't be found by the time investigators get to them.

A spokesman for the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement gave a bureaucratic non-answer answer about the lousy record.