NCJ Number
178080
Journal
American Criminal Law Review Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 1999 Pages: 475-513
Date Published
1999
Length
39 pages
Annotation
This discussion of criminal penalties used to protect employees in the areas of occupational safety and employment practices focuses on the Occupational Safety and Health Act, State criminal law, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Labor Management Relations Act, and the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.
Abstract
The criminal penalties are part of larger regulatory measures enacted to ensure worker safety, eliminate labor conditions detrimental to commerce and the general welfare or workers, and provide labor unions greater protection from corrupt union and management officials. Poor enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Act has been a source of controversy and has been criticized as limiting the law's deterrent effect on employers. This law preempts States from regulating workplace safety, but it does not preempt State criminal laws, which may also help deter criminal conduct by employers. Other Federal laws aim to eliminate certain labor conditions, address unethical management of some labor unions, and deal with other issues affecting workers. Footnotes