II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5139 

To establish criminal penalties for failing to inform and warn of serious 

dangers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 29, 2022 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish criminal penalties for failing to inform and 

warn of serious dangers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hide No Harm Act 

5 of 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part I of title 18, United States 

8 Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 101 the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘CHAPTER 101A—REPORTING STANDARDS 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘2081. Definitions. 

‘‘2082. Failure to inform and warn. 

‘‘2083. Relationship to existing law. 

2 ‘‘§ 2081. Definitions 

3 ‘‘In this chapter— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate Federal agency’ 

5 means an agency with jurisdiction over a covered 

6 product, covered service, or business practice; 

7 ‘‘(2) the term ‘business entity’ means a cor8 poration, company, association, firm, partnership, 

9 sole proprietor, or other entity engaged in the oper10 ation of a business; 

11 ‘‘(3) the term ‘business practice’ means a meth12 od or practice of— 

13 ‘‘(A) manufacturing, assembling, design14 ing, researching, importing, or distributing a 

15 covered product; 

16 ‘‘(B) conducting, providing, or preparing 

17 to provide a covered service; or 

18 ‘‘(C) otherwise carrying out business oper19 ations relating to covered products or covered 

20 services; 

21 ‘‘(4) the term ‘covered product’ means a prod22 uct manufactured, assembled, designed, researched, 


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1 imported, or distributed by a business entity that en2 ters interstate commerce; 

3 ‘‘(5) the term ‘covered service’ means a service 

4 conducted, provided, or prepared by a business enti5 ty that enters interstate commerce; 

6 ‘‘(6) the term ‘responsible corporate officer’ 

7 means a person who— 

8 ‘‘(A) is an employer, director, or officer of 

9 a business entity; 

10 ‘‘(B) has the responsibility and authority, 

11 by reason of his or her position in the business 

12 entity and in accordance with the rules or prac13 tice of the business entity, to acquire knowledge 

14 of any serious danger associated with a covered 

15 product (or component of a covered product), 

16 covered service, or business practice of the busi17 ness entity; and 

18 ‘‘(C) has the responsibility, by reason of 

19 his or her position in the business entity, to 

20 communicate information about the serious 

21 danger to— 

22 ‘‘(i) an appropriate Federal agency; 

23 ‘‘(ii) employees of the business entity; 

24 or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) individuals, other than employ2 ees of the business entity, who may be ex3 posed to the serious danger; 

4 ‘‘(7) the term ‘serious bodily injury’ means an 

5 impairment of the physical condition of an indi6 vidual, including as a result of trauma, repetitive 

7 motion, or disease, that— 

8 ‘‘(A) creates a substantial risk of death; or 

9 ‘‘(B) causes— 

10 ‘‘(i) serious permanent disfigurement; 

11 ‘‘(ii) unconsciousness; 

12 ‘‘(iii) extreme pain; or 

13 ‘‘(iv) permanent or protracted loss or 

14 impairment of the function of any bodily 

15 member, organ, bodily system, or mental 

16 faculty; 

17 ‘‘(8) the term ‘serious danger’ means a danger, 

18 not readily apparent to a reasonable person, that the 

19 normal or reasonably foreseeable use of, or the expo20 sure of an individual to, a covered product, covered 

21 service, or business practice has an imminent risk of 

22 causing death or serious bodily injury to an indi23 vidual; and 

24 ‘‘(9) the term ‘warn affected employees’ means 

25 take reasonable steps to give, to each individual who 


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1 is exposed or may be exposed to a serious danger in 

2 the course of work for a business entity, a descrip3 tion of the serious danger that is sufficient to make 

4 the individual aware of the serious danger. 

5 ‘‘§ 2082. Failure to inform and warn 

6 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—After acquiring actual knowl7 edge of a serious danger associated with a covered product 

8 (or component of a covered product), covered service, or 

9 business practice of a business entity, a business entity 

10 and any responsible corporate officer with respect to the 

11 covered product, covered service, or business practice, 

12 shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) as soon as practicable and not later than 

14 24 hours after acquiring such knowledge, verbally 

15 inform an appropriate Federal agency of the serious 

16 danger, unless the business entity or responsible cor17 porate officer has actual knowledge that an appro18 priate Federal agency has been so informed; 

19 ‘‘(2) not later than 15 days after acquiring such 

20 knowledge, inform an appropriate Federal agency in 

21 writing of the serious danger, unless the business 

22 entity or responsible corporate officer has actual 

23 knowledge than an appropriate Federal agency has 

24 been so informed; 


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1 ‘‘(3) as soon as practicable, warn affected em2 ployees in writing, unless the business entity or re3 sponsible corporate officer has actual knowledge that 

4 affected employees have been so warned; and 

5 ‘‘(4) as soon as practicable, inform individuals, 

6 other than affected employees, who may be exposed 

7 to the serious danger of the serious danger if such 

8 individuals can reasonably be identified, unless the 

9 business entity or responsible corporate officer has 

10 actual knowledge that such individuals have been 

11 warned. 

12 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any business entity or re14 sponsible corporate officer who knowingly violates 

15 subsection (a) shall be fined under this title, impris16 oned for not more than 5 years, or both. 

17 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF PAYMENT BY BUSINESS

18 ENTITIES.—If a final judgment is rendered and a 

19 fine is imposed on an individual under this sub20 section, the fine may not be paid, directly or indi21 rectly, out of the assets of any business entity on be22 half of the individual. 

23 ‘‘(c) CIVIL ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST RETALIA24 TION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful to 

2 knowingly discriminate against any person in the 

3 terms or conditions of employment, in retention in 

4 employment, or in hiring because the person in5 formed a Federal agency, warned employees, or in6 formed other individuals of a serious danger associ7 ated with a covered product, covered service, or busi8 ness practice, as required under this section. 

9 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT ACTION.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A person who alleges 

11 discharge or other discrimination by any person 

12 in violation of paragraph (1) may seek relief 

13 under paragraph (3), by— 

14 ‘‘(i) filing a complaint with the Sec15 retary of Labor; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) if the Secretary of Labor has not 

17 issued a final decision within 180 days of 

18 the filing of the complaint and there is no 

19 showing that such delay is due to the bad 

20 faith of the claimant, bringing an action at 

21 law or equity for de novo review in the ap22 propriate district court of the United 

23 States, which shall have jurisdiction over 

24 such an action without regard to the 

25 amount in controversy. 


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1 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.— 

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An action under 

3 subparagraph (A)(i) shall be governed 

4 under the rules and procedures set forth in 

5 section 42121(b) of title 49. 

6 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—Notification made 

7 under section 42121(b)(1) of title 49 shall 

8 be made to the person named in the com9 plaint and to the employer. 

10 ‘‘(iii) BURDENS OF PROOF.—An ac11 tion brought under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

12 shall be governed by the legal burdens of 

13 proof set forth in section 42121(b) of title 

14 49. 

15 ‘‘(iv) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An 

16 action under subparagraph (A) shall be 

17 commenced not later than 180 days after 

18 the date on which the violation occurs, or 

19 after the date on which the employee be20 came aware of the violation. 

21 ‘‘(v) JURY TRIAL.—A party to an ac22 tion brought under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

23 shall be entitled to trial by jury. 

24 ‘‘(3) REMEDIES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An employee pre2 vailing in any action under paragraph (2)(A) 

3 shall be entitled to all relief necessary to make 

4 the employee whole. 

5 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATORY DAMAGES.—Relief 

6 for any action under subparagraph (A) shall in7 clude— 

8 ‘‘(i) reinstatement with the same se9 niority status that the employee would 

10 have had, but for the discrimination; 

11 ‘‘(ii) the amount of back pay, with in12 terest; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) compensation for any special 

14 damages sustained as a result of the dis15 crimination, including litigation costs, ex16 pert witness fees, and reasonable attorney 

17 fees. 

18 ‘‘(4) RIGHTS RETAINED BY EMPLOYEE.—Noth19 ing in this subsection shall be deemed to diminish 

20 the rights, privileges, or remedies of any employee 

21 under any Federal or State law, or under any collec22 tive bargaining agreement. 

23 ‘‘(5) NONENFORCEABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVI24 SIONS WAIVING RIGHTS AND REMEDIES OR REQUIR25 ING ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) WAIVER OF RIGHTS AND REM2 EDIES.—The rights and remedies provided for 

3 in this subsection may not be waived by any 

4 agreement, policy form, or condition of employ5 ment, including by a predispute arbitration 

6 agreement. 

7 ‘‘(B) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREE8 MENTS.—No predispute arbitration agreement 

9 shall be valid or enforceable, if the agreement 

10 requires arbitration of a dispute arising under 

11 this subsection. 

12 ‘‘§ 2083. Relationship to existing law 

13 ‘‘(a) RIGHTS TO INTERVENE.—Nothing in this chap14 ter shall be construed to limit the right of any individual 

15 or group of individuals to initiate, intervene in, or other16 wise participate in any proceeding before a regulatory 

17 agency or court, nor to relieve any regulatory agency, 

18 court, or other public body of any obligation, or affect its 

19 discretion to permit intervention or participation by an in20 dividual or a group or class of consumers, employees, or 

21 citizens in any proceeding or activity. 

22 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

23 chapter shall be construed to— 


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1 ‘‘(1) increase the time period for informing of 

2 a serious danger or other harm under any other pro3 vision of law; or 

4 ‘‘(2) limit or otherwise reduce the penalties for 

5 any violation of Federal or State law under any 

6 other provision of law.’’. 

7 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

8 The table of chapters for part I of title 18, United States 

9 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

10 chapter 101 the following: 

‘‘101A. Reporting standards ........................................................ 2081’’. 

11 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

12 subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the date that 

13 is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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