On December 10, the US House of Representatives introduced the “LET’S Protect Workers Act.” The legislation was introduced by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and is currently co-sponsored by seventy-three (73) other Democrats. As introduced, the bill would increase penalties on employers that violate federal labor and employment law including proposed amendments to section 9 and 17 of the OSH Act. Specifically, the bill would 1) significantly increase the civil penalties for violations of OSHA standards, and 2) resurrect OSHA’s “Volks” rule by extending the period during which OSHA can issue a citation for injury and illness recordkeeping violations. The provisions of Sec. 2(c) of the bill would amend Sec. 17 of the OSH Act to:
- Increase the penalty for willful and repeat violations to $800k from $70k and not less than $60k, which is currently $5k.
- Increase the penalty for serious violations to $80k from $7k
- Increase the penalty for other than serious violations to $40k from $7k
- Increase the penalty for failure to abate a violation to $80k from $7k
- Increase the penalty for violations of OSHA’s posting requirements to $40k from $7k for each occurrence
As mentioned above, the bill would also extend the period during which OSHA could issue a citation for violating their recordkeeping requirements by amending Sec. 9(c) of the OSH Act. Under Sec. 5(a), any violation would continue to occur until 1) the date on which an employer complies with the requirements or 2) the date on which the requirement to keep and preserve such record expires, which is five (5) years under 1904.33(a).
The LET’s Protect Workers Act includes provisions that would also raise penalties for Department of Labor (DOL) standards on child labor, farmworker protection, and minimum wage and overtime. While AGC does not anticipate the bill to move forward, we will continue to monitor any progress on the proposed legislation.
Contact Kevin Cannon for more information.