Environment, Health and Safety
Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto often acts on behalf of workers in both the private and public sectors who report job-related assaults on public health and the environment. The firm successfully represented the first nationally recognized nuclear weapons whistleblowers, helped to abolish “hush money” payments in environmentally sensitive industries and won numerous precedent-setting cases that expanded whistleblowers’ legal protections. KKC has protected many employees who have exposed threats to public health and safety, including illegal hazardous waste storage, unlawful sewage discharges, dioxin cases and nuclear safety violations.
Establishing Protections: In Marcus v. EPA, our attorneys established that federal EPA employees who blow the whistle are shielded from retaliation under worker-protection provisions in the Clean Air Act and Safe Drinking Water Act.
Marcus v. EPA, 96-CAA-03,07 (ALJ, 12-15-98)
Marcus v. EPA, 92-TSC-5 (SOL, 2-7-94)
Marcus v. EPA, 92-TSC-5,(ALJ, 12-3-92)
Protecting EPA Employees: In Lewis v. EPA, our attorneys successfully represented Dr. David Lewis, an award-winning microbiologist who was fired from the EPA for investigating illnesses and deaths linked to agency programs that promoted the agricultural use of processed sewage sludge.
Blocking Hush Money Settlements: In Macktal v. Brown and Root, KKC successfully challenged a nuclear industry tactic of silencing whistleblowers with hush money. The effort compelled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prohibit the practice.
The firm successfully litigated these hush money cases in the fouth, fifth and ninth circuits.
Carolina Power and Light v. Secretary of Labor, 43 F.3d 912 (4th Cir. 1995)
In Re Texas Utilities Elec. Co., 37 NRC 477 (6-4-93)
(Not available on Internet)
Macktal v. Secretary of Labor, 923 F.2d 1150 (5th Cir. 1991)
Macktal v. Brown & Root, 86-ERA-23 (SOL, 10-13-93)
Macktal v. Brown & Root, 86-ERA-23 (SOL, 7-11-95)
Thompson v. U.S. Department of Labor, 885 F.2d 551 (9th Cir. 1989)