Clearwater Paper ordered to pay $235,000 to whistleblower
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Clearwater Paper Corp. to pay a former employee $235,000 after ruling the company fired him for filing a report with a federal agency about unsafe working conditions at the company's sawmill in Lewiston, Idaho.
The company fired Anthony Tenny in 2010 less than a month after an Occupational Safety & Health Administration inspection of the sawmill prompted by Tenny's complaint about high wood dust levels.
Winmill also awarded about $77,000 in punitive damages in order, he wrote, to deter future misconduct after determining "Clearwater fired Tenny to chill the reporting of safety violations."