Labor laws offer little protection to North Carolina workers

An investigation by Ames Alexander of the Charlotte Observer reveals that North Carolina has failed to protect employees who are fired in retaliation for filing workers compensation claims or blowing the whistle on unsafe practices.   The newspaper found that few who seek help under the state's anti-retaliation law wind up getting it. Of the roughly 800 people who file retaliation complaints each year, about 1 percent get their jobs back. North Carolina has not taken a retaliation case to court on behalf of a worker in seven years. And investigators sometimes dismiss cases without interviewing workers.