by Brianna Crandall — February 10, 2016—In an effort to prevent and deter crimes that put the lives and the health of workers at risk, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor recently announced a plan to more effectively prosecute such crimes. Under the new plan, the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices will work with the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), and Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to investigate and prosecute worker endangerment violations.
Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates commented:
On an average day in America, 13 workers die on the job, thousands are injured, and 150 succumb to diseases they obtained from exposure to carcinogens and other toxic and hazardous substances while they worked. Given the troubling statistics on workplace deaths and injuries, the Department of Justice is redoubling its efforts to hold accountable those who unlawfully jeopardize workers’ health and safety.
Joint DOJ / DOL meetings on how to increase the effectiveness of criminal prosecutions of worker endangerment violations led to a decision to consolidate the authorities to pursue worker safety statutes within the DOJ’s ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section. In a memo, Deputy Attorney General Yates urged federal prosecutors across the country to work with the Environmental Crimes Section in pursuing worker endangerment violations.
The worker safety statutes generally provide for only misdemeanor penalties. However, prosecutors have now been encouraged to consider utilizing Title 18 and environmental offenses, which often occur in conjunction with worker safety crimes, to enhance penalties and increase deterrence. Statutes included in this plan are the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), and the Mine Safety and Health Act (MINE Act).
In addition to prosecuting environmental crimes, the ENRD has also been strengthening its efforts to pursue civil cases that involve worker safety violations under statutes such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act. Violations of a number of provisions under these statutes can have a direct impact on workers tasked with handling dangerous chemicals and other materials, cleaning up spills and responding to hazardous releases.
