LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Federal regulators have ordered Union Pacific Railroad Co. to reinstate a worker who was fired for reporting a workplace injury.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Friday that the railroad violated federal law when it dismissed the apprentice machinist in North Platte in September 2009.

A three-judge panel also ordered the railroad to pay back wages with interest, as well as compensatory and punitive damages totaling $175,000.

OSHA originally issued its findings in April 2011. Union Pacific requested a hearing before an administrative law judge, who upheld the decision. Union Pacific then appealed to an administrative review board.