NCJ Number
207906
Journal
American Criminal Law Review Volume: 41 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2004 Pages: 397-441
Date Published
2004
Length
45 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes criminal laws that sanction employers for violations of occupational safety and employment standards.
Abstract
The regulatory regime constructed by these statutes is intended to ensure worker safety on the job, eliminate labor conditions detrimental to the Nation's commerce and the general welfare of workers, and protect labor unions from corrupt union and management officials. This article first discusses criminal sanctions pertinent to worker safety under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act (FMSHA). Under the OSH Act, the article discusses an offense in which an employer's willful violation of a safety standard results in an employee's death, false representations, enforcement under the act, and penalties provided. Regarding FMSHA, the article discusses how its provisions provide for civil, criminal, and administrative enforcement of specified safety and health standards for mine employees. The article then turns to an analysis of criminal sanctions under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), which was enacted to eliminate labor conditions detrimental to the Nation's commerce or the general welfare of workers. Provisions pertain to failure to pay the Federal minimum wage or overtime compensation, failure to keep individual employee work records, sex discrimination in pay, and oppressive child labor. This is followed by a discussion of the Labor Management Relations Act, which prohibits employers from making payments and loans to employees or labor organizations. The concluding section of the article reviews the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, which aims to prevent appropriations of union funds for non-union purposes. 246 footnotes