Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Three of Musk’s companies also face allegations they violated Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, including 26 violations contested by Tesla creating $583,000 in liabilities, according to the memo.

It also drew attention to a decision made earlier in Mr Barnett's case, in 2020, in which the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration concluded the company had not breached whistleblower protection law.

“Workers are the canaries,” said Debbie Berkowitz, a Georgetown University fellow and former federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration official under President Obama.

Will she act to preserve the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s new standard requiring employers to protect workers from heat-related injuries?

Over the past 15 years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected BaronHR’s work sites roughly 65 times, tallying nearly 100 violations with fines totaling at least $335,000, according to federal data.