According to OSHA, this employee objected to the sales manipulations, which apparently misrepresented the company’s value to potential investors, “repeatedly” between March and October 2008. The employee’s actions, OSHA says, played a part in the company’s termination decision. OSHA therefore found the company and former CEO Scott Landow to be in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s whistleblower protection provisions.
“This corporate officer tried to do the right thing when asked to break the law,” said OSHA Administrator Dr. David Michaels. “It is essential that America’s workers do not have to fear retaliation when reporting wrongdoing. The Labor Department will continue to protect whistleblowers from retaliation by holding corporations, and when appropriate, CEOs, accountable.”
Bond Laboratories and Landow can appeal the monetary damages to the Labor Department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges within 30 days of receiving the findings.
Bond Laboratories, formerly headquartered in Solana Beach, Calif., and currently based in Omaha, Neb., manufactures nutritional supplement beverages and related products for public consumption.
When contacted by EHS Today, a Bond Laboratories employee said the company has no comment at this time.