Legal Question in Employment Law in Iowa
I work in the Paint Dept. of a well known company in, Newton, IA, whom specializes in the manufacturing of wind turbine towers, built specificly for GE. I have encountered numerous problems with this company regarding the safety of not only myself, but my fellow co-workers, as well. Several issues have been addressed, such as the improper grounding for these immense structures. We are continuously getting "shocked" by the static-electricity that occurs while the towers are in motion and being painted. Not only does this hurt like he**, but also there could be a risk of an explosion. I have brought this issue to the company's attention time and time again, yet to no avail. Also, we continue to have an ever-growing shortage of our Painters Protective Equipment. We get the same answer each time, "These items are on order." There has been several times I have had to paint without using the proper gear, i.e. pre-filters for my resperator, head protective wraps, and so forth. What do you do when a big-name company ignores your concerns?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Iowa is a right to work state which means, absent a collective bargaining agreement or a contract of employment you can be terminated for any reason, good reason, or no reason at all. I don't have any good suggestions as to how you approach the problem other than make your concerns known to supervision and/or human resources.