The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered the reinstatement of a Plum Island Animal Disease Center employee fired in June after complaining about safety conditions.

The department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration office in Manhattan on Tuesday ruled that James McKoy, 57, of Center Moriches was protected by federal whistle-blower laws and must be reinstated by North Fork Services Joint Venture, the contractor that employs support personnel at the lab.

The agency ordered North Fork to pay McKoy more than $13,000 in back wages and interest, $75,000 in compensatory damages and more than $4,800 for job training expenses.  It also ordered the company to pay almost $13,000 in legal fees to McKoy's attorney, Martin Glennon of the Mineola firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, who represents the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30, which has been on strike against the contractor since August 2002.

Maryland-based North Fork was given five days to appeal.  Company officials were not available for comment.

"I'm elated," said McKoy, who started in November 2002 and has been unemployed since he was fired.  "I'm just happy that the truth came out."

But he's not sure he would want to go back to work at the lab.  "I'm sort of fearful of my exposure to other workers that may not share the same concerns that I do."

"It verifies everything we've been saying all along about Plum Island," Glennon said.

The Department of Homeland Security, which took over the lab in June from the Department of Agriculture, plans to replace North Fork with another contractor by the end of the year.  The agency had no comment today.

OSHA Regional Administrator Patricia Clark noted that McKoy was fired after leaving his post as a heating and air conditioning mechanic for 20 minutes to voice concerns that North Fork was failing to provide adequate security to protect the unauthorized removal of biological pollutants and materials from the containment lab to the director and a staff member for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).