II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2615 

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

dangers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 16, 2014 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. HARKIN, 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. CRIMINAL PENALTIES. 

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

5 Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 101 the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘CHAPTER 101A—REPORTING STANDARDS 

‘‘Sec. 

‘‘2081. Definitions. 

‘‘2082. Failure to inform and warn. 

‘‘2083. Relationship to existing law. 


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1 ‘‘§ 2081. Definitions 

2 ‘‘In this chapter— 

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

4 means an agency with jurisdiction over a covered 

5 product, covered service, or business practice; 

6 ‘‘(2) the term ‘business entity’ means a cor7 poration, company, association, firm, partnership, 

8 sole proprietor, or other business entity; 

9 ‘‘(3) the term ‘business practice’ means a meth10 od or practice of— 

11 ‘‘(A) manufacturing, assembling, design12 ing, researching, importing, or distributing a 

13 covered product; 

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

15 to provide a covered service; or 

16 ‘‘(C) otherwise carrying out business oper17 ations relating to covered products or covered 

18 services; 

19 ‘‘(4) the term ‘covered product’ means a prod20 uct manufactured, assembled, designed, researched, 

21 imported, or distributed by a business entity that en22 ters interstate commerce; 

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

24 conducted or provided by a business entity that en25 ters interstate commerce; 


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

2 means a person who— 

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

4 a business entity; 

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

6 by reason of his or her position in the business 

7 entity and in accordance with the rules or prac8 tice of the business entity, to acquire knowledge 

9 of any serious danger associated with a covered 

10 product (or component of a covered product), 

11 covered service, or business practice of the busi12 ness entity; and 

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

14 his or her position in the business entity, to 

15 communicate information about the serious 

16 danger to— 

17 ‘‘(i) an appropriate Federal agency; 

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

19 or 

20 ‘‘(iii) individuals, other than employ21 ees of the business entity, who may be ex22 posed to the serious danger; 

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

24 impairment of the physical condition of an indiVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:07 Jul 19, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2615.IS S2615

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1 vidual, including as a result of trauma, repetitive 

2 motion, or disease, that— 

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

4 ‘‘(B) causes— 

5 ‘‘(i) serious permanent disfigurement; 

6 ‘‘(ii) unconsciousness; 

7 ‘‘(iii) extreme pain; or 

8 ‘‘(iv) permanent or protracted loss or 

9 impairment of the function of any bodily 

10 member, organ, bodily system, or mental 

11 faculty; 

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

13 not readily apparent to a reasonable person, that the 

14 normal or reasonably foreseeable use of, or the expo15 sure of an individual to, a covered product, covered 

16 service, or business practice has an imminent risk of 

17 causing death or serious bodily injury to an indi18 vidual; and 

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

20 take reasonable steps to give, to each individual who 

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

22 the course of work for a business entity, a descrip23 tion of the serious danger that is sufficient to make 

24 the individual aware of the serious danger. 


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1 ‘‘§ 2082. Failure to inform and warn 

2 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—After acquiring actual knowl3 edge of a serious danger associated with a covered product 

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

5 business practice of a business entity, a business entity 

6 and any responsible corporate officer with respect to the 

7 covered product, covered service, or business practice, 

8 shall— 

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

10 24 hours after acquiring such knowledge, verbally 

11 inform an appropriate Federal agency of the serious 

12 danger, unless the business entity or responsible cor13 porate officer has actual knowledge that an appro14 priate Federal agency has been so informed; 

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

16 knowledge, inform an appropriate Federal agency in 

17 writing of the serious danger; 

18 ‘‘(3) as soon as practicable, warn affected em19 ployees in writing, unless the business entity or re20 sponsible corporate officer has actual knowledge that 

21 affected employees have been so warned; and 

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

23 other than affected employees, who may be exposed 

24 to the serious danger of the serious danger if such 

25 individuals can reasonably be identified. 

26 ‘‘(b) PENALTY.— 


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

2 subsection (a) shall be fined under this title, impris3 oned for not more than 5 years, or both. 

4 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF PAYMENT BY BUSINESS

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

6 fine is imposed on an individual under this sub7 section, the fine may not be paid, directly or indi8 rectly, out of the assets of any business entity on be9 half of the individual. 

10 ‘‘(c) CIVIL ACTION TO PROTECT AGAINST RETALIA11 TION.— 

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

13 knowingly discriminate against any person in the 

14 terms or conditions of employment, in retention in 

15 employment, or in hiring because the person in16 formed a Federal agency, warned employees, or in17 formed other individuals of a serious danger associ18 ated with a covered product, covered service, or busi19 ness practice, as required under this section. 

20 ‘‘(2) ENFORCEMENT ACTION.— 

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

22 discharge or other discrimination by any person 

23 in violation of paragraph (1) may seek relief 

24 under paragraph (3), by— 


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1 ‘‘(i) filing a complaint with the Sec2 retary of Labor; or 

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

4 final decision within 180 days of the filing 

5 of the complaint and there is no showing 

6 that such delay is due to the bad faith of 

7 the claimant, bringing an action at law or 

8 equity for de novo review in the appro9 priate district court of the United States, 

10 which shall have jurisdiction over such an 

11 action without regard to the amount in 

12 controversy. 

13 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An action under 

15 subparagraph (A)(i) shall be governed 

16 under the rules and procedures set forth in 

17 section 42121(b) of title 49. 

18 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—Notification made 

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

20 be made to the person named in the com21 plaint and to the employer. 

22 ‘‘(iii) BURDENS OF PROOF.—An ac23 tion brought under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

24 shall be governed by the legal burdens of 


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

2 49. 

3 ‘‘(iv) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—An 

4 action under subparagraph (A) shall be 

5 commenced not later than 180 days after 

6 the date on which the violation occurs, or 

7 after the date on which the employee be8 came aware of the violation. 

9 ‘‘(v) JURY TRIAL.—A party to an ac10 tion brought under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

11 shall be entitled to trial by jury. 

12 ‘‘(3) REMEDIES.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An employee pre14 vailing in any action under paragraph (2)(A) 

15 shall be entitled to all relief necessary to make 

16 the employee whole. 

17 ‘‘(B) COMPENSATORY DAMAGES.—Relief 

18 for any action under subparagraph (A) shall in19 clude— 

20 ‘‘(i) reinstatement with the same se21 niority status that the employee would 

22 have had, but for the discrimination; 

23 ‘‘(ii) the amount of back pay, with in24 terest; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) compensation for any special 

2 damages sustained as a result of the dis3 crimination, including litigation costs, ex4 pert witness fees, and reasonable attorney 

5 fees. 

6 ‘‘(4) RIGHTS RETAINED BY EMPLOYEE.—Noth7 ing in this subsection shall be deemed to diminish 

8 the rights, privileges, or remedies of any employee 

9 under any Federal or State law, or under any collec10 tive bargaining agreement. 

11 ‘‘(5) NONENFORCEABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVI12 SIONS WAIVING RIGHTS AND REMEDIES OR REQUIR13 ING ARBITRATION OF DISPUTES.— 

14 ‘‘(A) WAIVER OF RIGHTS AND REM15 EDIES.—The rights and remedies provided for 

16 in this subsection may not be waived by any 

17 agreement, policy form, or condition of employ18 ment, including by a predispute arbitration 

19 agreement. 

20 ‘‘(B) PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREE21 MENTS.—No predispute arbitration agreement 

22 shall be valid or enforceable, if the agreement 

23 requires arbitration of a dispute arising under 

24 this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘§ 2083. Relationship to existing law 

2 ‘‘(a) RIGHTS TO INTERVENE.—Nothing in this chap3 ter shall be construed to limit the right of any individual 

4 or group of individuals to initiate, intervene in, or other5 wise participate in any proceeding before a regulatory 

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

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

8 discretion to permit intervention or participation by an in9 dividual or a group or class of consumers, employees, or 

10 citizens in any proceeding or activity. 

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

12 chapter shall be construed to— 

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

14 a serious danger or other harm under any other pro15 vision of law; or 

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

17 any violation of Federal or State law under any 

18 other provision of law.’’. 

19 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

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

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

22 chapter 101 the following: 

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


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

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

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

Æ 


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