New reports have revealed that the company that operated the vessel that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore have a history of punishing whistleblowers who point out safety violations by the company. And as this investigation continues, we’ll probably be hearing more stories about the company’s gross conduct. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: New reports have revealed that the company that operated the vessel that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, well, they have a history of punishing whistleblowers who point out safety violations by the company. And this investigation continues. We’re probably gonna hear more and more stories about the company’s gross misconduct. I’ve got Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins with me to talk about this. So, Farron, what struck me about this story, okay, I get that there should be no, you know, we represent whistleblowers. I understand that very, very well. I don’t understand what the problem is if an employee says, look, you got problems with the boat and he tells the employer that, and at the same time he tells the Coast Guard. What’s, tell me about your take on this story. Maybe I’m missing something.
Farron Cousins: Well, we’ve got this law called the Siemens Protection Act. And what it says is that, hey, if you’re working on the water, on a boat, whatever it is, you go to the Coast Guard when you have issues with the company rather than going to company management. So it is a bit weird. You have the federal government saying, hey, listen, if you see a problem, don’t go to your boss. You come tell us. And it may have to, it’s a confusing law. And again, like you said, I’m not sure it makes total sense.
Mike Papantonio: It doesn’t.
Farron Cousins: But if we’re trying to rationalize it, it might be because of what’s at stake. Obviously, when you’re in a very large barge or vessel out there, a problem may immediately need a regulator to come in and fix it before the company could. Maybe.
Mike Papantonio: Right. Think about what you just said. We’re saying go to the bureaucracy first before you tell your employer. Yeah. The employer, I guess maybe this was done to protect the potential whistleblower, but the whistleblower has protection anyway, whether they go to the employer and say, look, you got something on barge that’s gonna kill people. And that’s what happened here. Six people were dead. And they had all kinds of problems on this barge. They got fire control problems. They had mechanical problems that were overwhelming. They had seaworthy problems that were overwhelming. So you go to the employer and say, you got these problems, at the same time you go to the Coast Guard. But I’m just not following this when they’re saying, go to the bureaucrats first. Right? Go to the labor department first, especially if it’s something as important and timely as this, it’s kind of exigent kind of problem, isn’t it?
Farron Cousins:: Yeah. And when you are talking about problems like this, obviously the person or or group who’s in an immediate position to be able to fix it would be the company itself. But with this particular whistleblower in question, it wasn’t necessarily about that particular boat. But this whistleblower had told the company, he said, listen, you’ve got problems with the safety features. You’ve got problem with the boats themselves. You got people drinking on the job.
Mike Papantonio: And they didn’t do anything.
Farron Cousins: Right.
Mike Papantonio: That’s different.
Farron Cousins: Exactly.
Mike Papantonio: So that’s the distinction in this story.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. And so that’s what is weird about it is you’ve got this law that almost conflicts with common sense.
Mike Papantonio: It does. It totally conflicts because, I get in the end, the employee is paid $700,000 in damages and back wages, which should be. I mean, look, we have handled horrible whistleblower cases where the employer just victimizes whistleblower. But to say, wait, don’t tell the employer, tell the bureaucracy first. That is just a non-starter to me. I just don’t get that logic in this case.
Farron Cousins: Yeah. It is really weird. It’s almost like it doesn’t even give the company the opportunity to fix problems because problems happen. Right? Machinery does break down. Engines do fail. And rather than immediately running to the Coast Guard, it should be, hey.
Mike Papantonio: Fix this.
Farron Cousins: Look, we’ve got some bolts that are starting to come out here, company, let’s take care of this. It’s what we do. It’s part of regular maintenance. But.
Mike Papantonio: In this situation, he did that.
Farron Cousins: Yes, he did.
Mike Papantonio: And he did it. The employer says, okay, okay, okay, we’re gonna take care of it. Nothing happened. Which is, you know, you might expect that every time. But you at least go to the people that have their finger on the pulse that can stop that ship immediately and do something immediately about it. It’s just a bad law. It’s the way it’s written, I think the whistleblower is gonna be protected either way. So I don’t quite understand this.
Farron Cousins: And in this case, the employee did everything right. The company did everything wrong.
Mike Papantonio: Well, that’s right. That right. But this falls on the Siemens Protection Act, 1984 Act, and it almost screams out, go to the bureaucrats first, which is what it’s saying. Go to the bureaucrats first. Don’t, you don’t even have to tell the employer, but the employer is controlling that boat. It makes no sense.
Farron Cousins: Ring of Fire founder and host of America’s Lawyer, Mike Papantonio has a new book came out this week called, “Suspicious Activity.” Like his other books before it, this book actually deals with real legal cases that Mike Papantonio has handled, but in a fictionalized way. The book follows the character of Nick Deketomis that Papantonio first introduced in his book, “Law and Disorder,” and it carries on the story that began in “Law and Disorder” through “Law and Vengeance,” “Law and Addiction,” “Inhuman Trafficking,” and now “Suspicious Activity.” This book, in particular, deals with the financial institutions that have helped launder money for terrorist organizations, which of course is a topic we have covered extensively here on Ring of Fire. So if you’re a follower of Mike Papantonio’s books, or if this is your first one, you can get your copy of “Suspicious Activity” now. Just go to MikePapantonio.com and place your order. And if you haven’t already, check out Mike’s other books, also available on MikePapantonio.com.
