Chesapeake Energy Corporation Nomac Drilling, LLC Retalitates against employees who report workplace safety issues, falsly accuses and terminates employees, HR and Board of Directors does nothing to remedy Oklahoma City Oklahoma

My husband was terminated, after 6 1/2 months with this company as a Floorman Trainee. He was hired and promised to be trained to become a floorman on a land oil rig in Oklahoma, with no experience. In late July, just over a month after his hiring and orientation, he was threatened by the Motorman because my husband refused to lean out and climb out of the man lift to reach a part they were working on, on the top drive. The co-worker my husband was working with instructed my husband to climb out of the man-lift so he could extend his reach. My husband knew that this was an unsafe thing to do and refused to comply. He was sent down to the ground and instructed to go clean the conex(a storage container). The Motorman came in and cornered my husband, yelling and cursing at him because he had refused to do what the co-worker had suggested. He then told my husband that if he told anyone about the conversation that, "I will kick your a**." My husband was floored and called me at the end of his shift. Not knowing what to do and too afraid to return to the bunk house where all the crew stayed while on the job for 14 days; afraid that if he defended himself that he would lose his job, he asked for my advice. I told him that he needed to stay away from the bunk house and I would locate a number to call for help. I notified Chesapeake Security and they removed the offending Motorman; who was later terminated after a full investigation.

Since that time, my husband was subjected to constant harassement for getting one of the "good ol' boys" canned. He was left to pick up trash around the site 99% of the time, and other menial jobs. When he was allowed on the rig floor to trip pipe, his questions, and requests for how to do something properly were either ignored, or shot down with "just do it!" He was told that he was a tattle-tail, and that he did not follow the chain of command when reporting the threat. He was injured on several occasions due to pranks played on him or improperly rigged equipment; and then blamed for risking their precious safety bonus. He was called lazy for going to the bathroom, eating, getting a drink of water, getting hurt and being instructed to take it easy for the rest of the day. He was called a 'powder-puff," and comment were made about me in an effort to get a rise out of him, by the tool-pusher, driller, derrickman, and another floorman. He went from 225 lb, 6'1" man, to 207 lb, 6'1" man in just over a month...and all he did was pick up trash, scrap paint, paint, clean the cool down trailer and conex, and dig trenches. The only thing he did to retain any muscle at all was the trenches. He just looked haggard and wasted away...his clothes just hung on him like rags. This is the same man that climbed 314ft to the top of Wind Turbine Towers and never lost muscle mass...he gained it; never got injured, sick, or complained about his job; worked in over 100 degree heat and freezing rain and snow...never complained, dug fence post holes, and lots of manual labor...never said much more than an 'I'm sore.' He is used to hard manual labor...but this was not due to hard work...he was subjected to constant psycological and physical retaliation!

On the day befor ehe was written up, he had gone; at my urging, to the new tool-pusher and told him he wanted a rig transfer, that he was tired of not being trained, tired of the harassment and retaliation, and that when he returned home he was also going to report to HR what had been going on. The following day, he  had gone into the dog house to get a drink of water, while there he saw the new tool pusher and the derrickman talking, and made eye contact with the derrickman. What he heard was, "...write-up, good, maybe we can get someone on here who wants to work!" At the end of the shift, he was called into the office and written up for 2 company and safety violations; both of which were lies, for which he checked the disagree box and signed the forms. He tried to explain that he had not done what he was being accused of, at which point the tool pusher yelled, "I know you did it, because I saw you do it twice!" He requested a copy of the write ups, but was never given any. He called me that evening and told me about the write ups and I told him that we needed to report to HR before he came home...that I was certain they were trying to set him up to fire him. Unfortunately, the one person who gave his phone number and name and stated that he would testify to everything my husband had been through, was too afraid to talk while on the job. Our witness was afraid he would be subjected to the same retaliation and would also be set up to be fired...so we waited.

The following day after the write ups, my husband seriously injured his arm and wrist; by no means of sabotage. He was digging when he heard and felt a loud snap in his wrist, followed by excrutiating pain and his fingers rolling up into a fist. He could not straighten his fingers out at all and was in alot of pain. He was taken to the hospital where he was examined and put into a splint. The doctor instructed the safety representative that he and the nurse could discuss the type of splint that would prevent any issues with the safety bonus. The doctor then instructed my husband to keep the splint on for 2 days, that he could return to work with weight restrictions. However, the safety representative took issue with the restrictions and stated that it was contradictory; therefore, the doctor adjusted his recommendation to return to work with no restrictions.Upon returning to the rig site, my husband began getting dressed to return to work, when the tool-pusher directed him to come to his office. My husband entered the office and found the Rig Superintendent already in the office. As my husband sat down, the rig superintendent stated, "we are going to go with a termination." My husband, tried to state his case that he had purposely disagreed with the write ups because they were false allegations...to no avail. he was told that it was on paper and that was what he(rig superintendent) was going with. He came home.

The next morning we began calling and emailing Chesapeake and Nomac HR. They stated that they would investigate his claims; however, all they did was call us and take my husband's statements. They never contacted our witness, never investigated, and told him, "the termination stands." We emailed the Board of Trustees, said they took retaliation claims seriously and would investigate, would contact my husband...nothing. Sent them a message on facebook and again they stated that they would investigate...nothing.

This company might have good wages and benefits...but that is it. They promise to train these guys with no experience...but they fail to do so; they promise to back you up if you have problems, claim to have an open door policy...yea, they have an open door policy...they one they set you up to go out of if you make waves or complain. Now we are fighting to get unemployment; to which amazingly the write ups which were sent to the Oklahoma unemployment office, came in with a mysterious change...the box for "agree" was checked and not the "disagree" that my husband had selected and signed. Not to mention the fact that the Driller had advised my husband to sign his name better so that he would copy it...coincidence...I doubt it!

This company is so corrupt, and willing to do anything to cover up for their poor management, that Satan himself is jealous! Do Not, think you will go to work for this company and have a long career with them...they will get rid of you the moment you question their ethics, or report a valid problem. Yea, they did something the first time...but that was just to save face...they had no intention of doing anything past what was demanded of them by OSHA regualtions on Workplace Violence and Safety...past that, they are so arrogant and think they are so untouchable that they will shove you under the bus, and swear on a stack of bibles that you tripped!