United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) has paid $254,000 to a mechanic who was terminated by the delivery carrier after complaining about unsafe conditions in trucks at the company's Watertown, N.Y., garage.

The former employee filed complaints with OSHA alleging violations of the whistleblower provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act. An OSHA investigation found merit to the complaints, and the agency informed UPS last December of this preliminary finding.

After receiving OSHA's findings, UPS elected to settle the case. In addition to paying the complainant the $254,000 in remedies, UPS will post OSHA whistleblower fact sheets in all its New York facilities and has agreed that it will not in any manner interfere with, coerce or restrain its employees from exercising their rights under STAA and the OSH Act.

In agreeing to the settlement, UPS neither admits nor denies the allegations of the complaint.