NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk/Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Supreme Court Building, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is:

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

___________________________

Department of Labor

No. 96-194

APPEAL OF OSRAM SYLVANIA, INC.

(New Hampshire Department of Labor)

February 27, 1998

Ransmeier & Spellman P.C., of Concord (Steven E. Hengen and R. Matthew Cairns on the brief, and Mr. Hengen orally), for the petitioner.

Kenneth A. Silverstein, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, by brief and orally, for the respondent.

JOHNSON, J. The petitioner, Osram Sylvania, Inc., appeals a decision of the New Hampshire Department of Labor (NHDOL) that it violated the New Hampshire Whistleblowers' Protection Act (Whistleblowers' Act), see RSA ch. 275-E (Supp. 1997), when it discharged the respondent, L. Cletus Kijek, in July 1995 for filing a complaint with the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.

The following facts were adduced at the NHDOL hearing. In the summer of 1995, Kijek was employed at Osram's production plant in Exeter. On more than one occasion, Kijek complained to his supervisor that the temperatures where he worked were excessive and reaching dangerous levels. On July 15, 1995, after management failed to remedy the heat problem to his satisfaction, Kijek informed his supervisor that he intended to file a claim with OSHA alleging a violation of 29 U.S.C.