The act of filing a Federal Rail Safety Act complaint with OSHA is itself a protected activity that cannot in any way be used against the employee. But co-workers are protected as well. Any co-worker who talks to an OSHA Whistleblower investigator or who cooperates with the OSHA FRSA investigation gains protection going forward from any retaliation by the Railroad. So any fellow worker who provides information to an FRSA investigator dons the same suit of protective armor against retaliation and wields the same shield and sword to strike back against retaliatory managers. In some circumstances, union reps may be able to leverage such FRSA protection to push back against disciplinary charges. The citation for the FRSA subsection providing such protection is 49 USC 20109(a)(3).