(LEGAFI) -- The New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division has upheld a lower court's decision to award $500,000 to a former DuPont Chambers Works Employee who says he was retaliated against for filing an OSHA complaint. 

Former chemical plant operator John “Jack” Seddon filed a whistleblower lawsuit against DuPont Chambers Works after employees allegedly retaliated against him between 2003 and 2005 for filing an OSHA complaint. Seddon raised concerns about what he believed was a potential public safety hazard in a phosgene reactor.

Phosgene is a critical component of the chemical warfare agent phosgene oxime. If the reactor had blown up, Seddon said, there would have been a great loss of life. 

“DuPont should be ashamed of itself,” said Seddon’s attorney. “They should apologize to Mr. Seddon and the surrounding community.”

Seddon alleged in the DuPont whistleblower lawsuit that from 2003 to 2005, DuPont retaliated against him for making an OSHA complaint by cutting his overtime, reducing his work hours, changing his shifts, and giving him poor performance evaluations. 

Seddon sued DuPont under the state Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) in 2004.

A jury verdict originally awarded Seddon more then $2 million in lost wages, punitive damages and attorney fees. DuPont appealed, and an appellate court reversed the lower court's decision, ruling that Seddon could not win a lost-wage claim under CEPA unless he proved DuPont caused him to resign or retire.

Seddon appealed the appellate court’s ruling that he had to prove “lost wages” under CEPA, and the Supreme Court reversed the appellate court’s decision. 

The Supreme Court found that lost wages are recoverable in a CEPA case, even in the absence of a “constructive discharge.” The Supreme Court reinstated the jury verdict and damages award in favor of Seddon.