[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 5]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1903.11]

[Page 32-33]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
CHAPTER XVII--OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT 
                                OF LABOR
 
PART 1903_INSPECTIONS, CITATIONS AND PROPOSED PENALTIES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1903.11  Complaints by employees.

    (a) Any employee or representative of employees who believe that a 
violation of the Act exists in any workplace where such employee is 
employed may request an inspection of such workplace by giving notice of 
the alleged violation to the Area Director or to a Compliance Safety and 
Health Officer. Any such notice shall be reduced to writing, shall set 
forth with reasonable particularity the grounds for the notice, and 
shall be signed by the employee or representative of employees. A copy 
shall be provided the employer or his agent by the Area Director or 
Compliance Safety and Health Officer no later than at the time of 
inspection, except that, upon the request of the person giving such 
notice, his name and the names of individual employees referred to 
therein shall not appear in such copy or on any record published, 
released, or made available by the Department of Labor.
    (b) If upon receipt of such notification the Area Director 
determines that the complaint meets the requirements set forth in 
paragraph (a) of this section, and that there are reasonable

[[Page 33]]

grounds to believe that the alleged violation exists, he shall cause an 
inspection to be made as soon as practicable, to determine if such 
alleged violation exists. Inspections under this section shall not be 
limited to matters referred to in the complaint.
    (c) Prior to or during any inspection of a workplace, any employee 
or representative of employees employed in such workplace may notify the 
Compliance Safety and Health Officer, in writing, of any violation of 
the Act which they have reason to believe exists in such workplace. Any 
such notice shall comply with the requirements of paragraph (a) of this 
section.
    (d) Section 11(c)(1) of the Act provides: ``No person shall 
discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee because 
such employee has filed any complaint or instituted or caused to be 
instituted any proceeding under or related to this Act or has testified 
or is about to testify in any such proceeding or because of the exercise 
by such employee on behalf of himself or others of any right afforded by 
this Act.''

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 
1218-0064)

[36 FR 17850, Sept. 4, 1973, as amended at 54 FR 24333, June 7, 1989]