MOLINE, Ill. (AP) - Officials at the U.S. Department of Labor say agricultural manufacturer John Deere has agreed to pay a former employee $275,000 to settle allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit.
The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed last year in federal court in central Illinois under the anti-retaliation provision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
The lawsuit claimed a pipefitter was fired from Deere’s Moline facility in 2012 after reporting unsafe working conditions and the company’s failure to correct one of safety problems.
Deere did not admit liability in the case, but the company has agreed to pay the former employee back wages and damages.
The government did not release the pipefitter’s name and it was blacked out in the settlement agreement released publicly.
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