Document Z4KRjQEp9G3YZE4xkLke0Z597

Hayward, CA (Alameda Co.) Review (Cir. D. 43,161) (Cir. S. 43,456) lAllen * P. C. B /:\. 1888 Staff writer OAKLAND -- A man who last week sued a San . Leandro foundry over alleged BGB-exposure was fired by the company earlier this year for complaining to state health and safety officials about working condi tions, it was learned Monday. - . Michael D. Boles, 33, of San Lorenzo, filed the Alameda County Superior Court suit against Precision .Founders Inc., which is appealing 21 citations issued by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health for violations of health and safety standards. Meanwhile, a second employee Monday filed a law suit against the company, also alleging PCB exposure ; while working at the foundry. Boles is the man who complained -- anonymously at first -- to the state agency and triggered the probe leading to the citations, his attorney, Paul C. Jess of Sonoma, said in a telephone interview. - That led to Boles' firing last April 20 -- just days after inspectors began their investigation with a court-or dered search warrant issued when company officials refused to let investigators into the plant, Jess said. The lawyer said Boles was fired ostensibly on grounds of insubordination when he refused an assignment he believed jeopardized his safety. A subsequent ruling by a state labor commissioner in May ordered Boles reinstated as a maintenance me chanic and given back pay after a finding that Precision Foundry officials fired him because of the safety complaint he had made, according to Jess. . That decision was confirmed Monday by Deputy Labor Commissioner Nancy Kleiber, who made the finding and ordered Boles reinstated with back pay last May 15. ; Jess said the company did not appeal the finding. He said his client received his back pay but declined reinstatement because he feared for his safety on the job. , The lawyer said he expects to file^a wrongful dis charge lawsuit against the company seeking punitive damages for Boles' firing. . ' , . Precision Founders Vice President Frost Prioleau said today he thought some violations surrounded the "bag house," then recanted, saying he did not recall if occupational safety hazards were found there. "That is not uppermost in my mind right now," Prioleau said. He said of the 21 citations issued, the company had corrected those that were "easy tacorrect," and appeal ing all the "more difficult problems." He also insisted at that Boles' firing was unrelated to the lawsuit or occupational safety citations. The specific event that led to the firing was Boles' refusing an order to clean the foundry's "bag house," a facility where dust particles are collected from the company's operations, according to Jess. He said Boles refused because he did not consider the "bag house" a safe place to work. Ms. Kleiber, in ordering Boles' reinstatement, found that the work order was part of discriminatory treat ment against the employee after company officials learned he had complained about working conditions to safety officials. Of the 21 citations issued to the company, seven were labeled "serious" by the occupational safety agency. Two concerned conditions in the "bag house." Those two citations faulted the company for failing to have written training, operating and rescue procedures, as well as failure to have appropriate respiratory equipment for those working in the "bag house." None of the citations involved PCB, however, despite Boles' original complaint that he had been exposed to the substance, which was banned from production in the United States two years ago. _ - Boles' suit charges he was exposed to PCB --: unaware of its presence and without being given proper safety equipment *-- while working on an electrical capacitor Oct. 1, 1980. Westinghouse Corp., which manufactured the capacitor, and Monsanto Co., which manufactured PCB from 1929 until the ban, are also named defendants in the lawsuit. ; The second suit, also filed by Jess, is on behalf of 27- year-old Alton L. Baxley of Hayward, who is still employed by Precision as a maintenance mechanic, and his wife, Helen. I Baxley alleges he was exposed to leaking PCB the daji after Boles from the same capacitor. The suit seeks unspecified damages and asks for punitive damages against the company. -f PCB-ARCH-EXT0376202