II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2140 

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

dangers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 6, 2015 

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 2015’’. 

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 business entity; 

10 ‘‘(3) the term ‘business practice’ means a meth11 od or practice of— 

12 ‘‘(A) manufacturing, assembling, design13 ing, researching, importing, or distributing a 

14 covered product; 

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

16 to provide a covered service; or 

17 ‘‘(C) otherwise carrying out business oper18 ations relating to covered products or covered 

19 services; 

20 ‘‘(4) the term ‘covered product’ means a prod21 uct manufactured, assembled, designed, researched, 

22 imported, or distributed by a business entity that en23 ters interstate commerce; 


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

2 conducted or provided by a business entity that en3 ters interstate commerce; 

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

5 means a person who— 

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

7 a business entity; 

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

9 by reason of his or her position in the business 

10 entity and in accordance with the rules or prac11 tice of the business entity, to acquire knowledge 

12 of any serious danger associated with a covered 

13 product (or component of a covered product), 

14 covered service, or business practice of the busi15 ness entity; and 

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

17 his or her position in the business entity, to 

18 communicate information about the serious 

19 danger to— 

20 ‘‘(i) an appropriate Federal agency; 

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

22 or 

23 ‘‘(iii) individuals, other than employ24 ees of the business entity, who may be ex25 posed to the serious danger; 


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

2 impairment of the physical condition of an indi3 vidual, including as a result of trauma, repetitive 

4 motion, or disease, that— 

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

6 ‘‘(B) causes— 

7 ‘‘(i) serious permanent disfigurement; 

8 ‘‘(ii) unconsciousness; 

9 ‘‘(iii) extreme pain; or 

10 ‘‘(iv) permanent or protracted loss or 

11 impairment of the function of any bodily 

12 member, organ, bodily system, or mental 

13 faculty; 

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

15 not readily apparent to a reasonable person, that the 

16 normal or reasonably foreseeable use of, or the expo17 sure of an individual to, a covered product, covered 

18 service, or business practice has an imminent risk of 

19 causing death or serious bodily injury to an indi20 vidual; and 

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

22 take reasonable steps to give, to each individual who 

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

24 the course of work for a business entity, a descripVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:41 Oct 08, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2140.IS S2140

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1 tion of the serious danger that is sufficient to make 

2 the individual aware of the serious danger. 

3 ‘‘§ 2082. Failure to inform and warn 

4 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—After acquiring actual knowl5 edge of a serious danger associated with a covered product 

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

7 business practice of a business entity, a business entity 

8 and any responsible corporate officer with respect to the 

9 covered product, covered service, or business practice, 

10 shall— 

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

12 24 hours after acquiring such knowledge, verbally 

13 inform an appropriate Federal agency of the serious 

14 danger, unless the business entity or responsible cor15 porate officer has actual knowledge that an appro16 priate Federal agency has been so informed; 

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

18 knowledge, inform an appropriate Federal agency in 

19 writing of the serious danger, unless the business 

20 entity or responsible corporate officer has actual 

21 knowledge than an appropriate Federal agency has 

22 been so informed; 

23 ‘‘(3) as soon as practicable, warn affected em24 ployees in writing, unless the business entity or reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:41 Oct 08, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2140.IS S2140

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1 sponsible corporate officer has actual knowledge that 

2 affected employees have been so warned; and 

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

4 other than affected employees, who may be exposed 

5 to the serious danger of the serious danger if such 

6 individuals can reasonably be identified, unless the 

7 business entity or responsible corporate officer has 

8 actual knowledge that such individuals have been 

9 warned. 

10 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly violates 

12 subsection (a) shall be fined under this title, impris13 oned for not more than 5 years, or both. 

14 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF PAYMENT BY BUSINESS

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

16 fine is imposed on an individual under this sub17 section, the fine may not be paid, directly or indi18 rectly, out of the assets of any business entity on be19 half of the individual. 

20 ‘‘(c) CIVIL ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST RETALIA21 TION.— 

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

23 knowingly discriminate against any person in the 

24 terms or conditions of employment, in retention in 

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1 formed a Federal agency, warned employees, or in2 formed other individuals of a serious danger associ3 ated with a covered product, covered service, or busi4 ness practice, as required under this section. 

5 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT ACTION.— 

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

7 discharge or other discrimination by any person 

8 in violation of paragraph (1) may seek relief 

9 under paragraph (3), by— 

10 ‘‘(i) filing a complaint with the Sec11 retary of Labor; or 

12 ‘‘(ii) if the Secretary has not issued a 

13 final decision within 180 days of the filing 

14 of the complaint and there is no showing 

15 that such delay is due to the bad faith of 

16 the claimant, bringing an action at law or 

17 equity for de novo review in the appro18 priate district court of the United States, 

19 which shall have jurisdiction over such an 

20 action without regard to the amount in 

21 controversy. 

22 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.— 

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An action under 

24 subparagraph (A)(i) shall be governed 


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1 under the rules and procedures set forth in 

2 section 42121(b) of title 49. 

3 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—Notification made 

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

5 be made to the person named in the com6 plaint and to the employer. 

7 ‘‘(iii) BURDENS OF PROOF.—An ac8 tion brought under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

9 shall be governed by the legal burdens of 

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

11 49. 

12 ‘‘(iv) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An 

13 action under subparagraph (A) shall be 

14 commenced not later than 180 days after 

15 the date on which the violation occurs, or 

16 after the date on which the employee be17 came aware of the violation. 

18 ‘‘(v) JURY TRIAL.—A party to an ac19 tion brought under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

20 shall be entitled to trial by jury. 

21 ‘‘(3) REMEDIES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An employee pre23 vailing in any action under paragraph (2)(A) 

24 shall be entitled to all relief necessary to make 

25 the employee whole. 


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1 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATORY DAMAGES.—Relief 

2 for any action under subparagraph (A) shall in3 clude— 

4 ‘‘(i) reinstatement with the same se5 niority status that the employee would 

6 have had, but for the discrimination; 

7 ‘‘(ii) the amount of back pay, with in8 terest; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) compensation for any special 

10 damages sustained as a result of the dis11 crimination, including litigation costs, ex12 pert witness fees, and reasonable attorney 

13 fees. 

14 ‘‘(4) RIGHTS RETAINED BY EMPLOYEE.—Noth15 ing in this subsection shall be deemed to diminish 

16 the rights, privileges, or remedies of any employee 

17 under any Federal or State law, or under any collec18 tive bargaining agreement. 

19 ‘‘(5) NONENFORCEABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVI20 SIONS WAIVING RIGHTS AND REMEDIES OR REQUIR21 ING ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) WAIVER OF RIGHTS AND REM23 EDIES.—The rights and remedies provided for 

24 in this subsection may not be waived by any 

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1 ment, including by a predispute arbitration 

2 agreement. 

3 ‘‘(B) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREE4 MENTS.—No predispute arbitration agreement 

5 shall be valid or enforceable, if the agreement 

6 requires arbitration of a dispute arising under 

7 this subsection. 

8 ‘‘§ 2083. Relationship to existing law 

9 ‘‘(a) RIGHTS TO INTERVENE.—Nothing in this chap10 ter shall be construed to limit the right of any individual 

11 or group of individuals to initiate, intervene in, or other12 wise participate in any proceeding before a regulatory 

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

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

15 discretion to permit intervention or participation by an in16 dividual or a group or class of consumers, employees, or 

17 citizens in any proceeding or activity. 

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

19 chapter shall be construed to— 

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

21 a serious danger or other harm under any other pro22 vision of law; or 

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

24 any violation of Federal or State law under any 

25 other provision of law.’’. 


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1 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

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

4 chapter 101 the following: 

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

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

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

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

Æ 


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