Iowa City, Ia (AP) — The Iowa Public Employment Relations Board has overturned the firing of a workplace safety inspector, finding that he unfairly faced retribution after reporting a hostile work environment inside the agency. The board found that managers at the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration acted with “express bias” when they opened a disciplinary investigation into Travis Stein for missing a meeting in November 2018. The decision found that the agency had never before punished a worker for missing a meeting and that the investigation of Stein was unfair and incomplete. Stein says the ruling backs his claim that his January 2019 firing was motivated by retaliation and built on false statements.
