I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1074 
To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand cov-
erage under the Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to in-
crease penalties for high gravity violations, to adjust penalties for infla-
tion, to provide rights for victims or their family members, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 7, 2019 
Mr. COURTNEY (for himself, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. WILSON of Florida, 
Mr. TAKANO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. NOR-
CROSS, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. OMAR, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. WILD, 
Mr. NADLER, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. NORTON, Ms. 
TITUS, Mr. POCAN, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. MOORE, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. 
VISCLOSKY, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, and Mrs. LEE of Nevada) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
Labor 
A BILL 
To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 
to expand coverage under the Act, to increase protections 
for whistleblowers, to increase penalties for high gravity 
violations, to adjust penalties for inflation, to provide 
rights for victims or their family members, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Protecting America’s Workers Act’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
TITLE I—COVERAGE OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, AUTHORIZED EM-
PLOYEE 
REPRESENTATIVES, 
VOLUNTARY 
EMERGENCY 
RE-
SPONDERS, AND APPLICATION OF ACT 
Sec. 101. Coverage of public employees. 
Sec. 102. Authorized employee representatives. 
Sec. 103. Application of Act. 
TITLE II—INCREASING WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS 
Sec. 201. Enhanced protections from retaliation. 
TITLE III—IMPROVING REPORTING, INSPECTION, AND 
ENFORCEMENT 
PART A—DUTIES AND STANDARDS 
Sec. 301. General duty of employers. 
Sec. 302. Occupational safety and health standards. 
PART B—INSPECTIONS, INVESTIGATIONS, AND RECORDKEEPING 
Sec. 311. Posting of employee rights. 
Sec. 312. Employer reporting of work-related injuries, illness, deaths, and hos-
pitalizations; prohibition on discouraging employee reporting. 
Sec. 313. No loss of employee pay for inspections. 
Sec. 314. Investigations of fatalities and significant incidents. 
Sec. 315. Recordkeeping. 
PART C—CITATIONS 
Sec. 321. Period for issuance of a citation. 
Sec. 322. Prohibition on unclassified citations. 
PART D—RIGHTS OF VICTIMS AND FAMILIES 
Sec. 331. Rights of victims and families. 
PART E—PROCEDURE FOR ENFORCEMENT 
Sec. 341. Right to contest citations and penalties. 
Sec. 342. Correction of serious, willful, or repeated violations pending contest 
and procedures for a stay. 
Sec. 343. Inaction by the Review Commission. 
Sec. 344. Conforming amendments. 
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PART F—PENALTIES 
Sec. 351. Civil penalties. 
Sec. 352. Criminal penalties. 
Sec. 353. Prejudgment interest. 
TITLE IV—STATE PLANS 
Sec. 401. Concurrent enforcement authority and review of State occupational 
safety and health plans. 
Sec. 402. Evaluation of repeated violations in State plans. 
TITLE V—NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY 
AND HEALTH 
Sec. 501. Health hazard evaluations by the National Institute for Occupational 
Safety and Health. 
Sec. 502. Training and employee education. 
TITLE VI—EFFECTIVE DATE 
Sec. 601. Effective date. 
TITLE I—COVERAGE OF PUBLIC 
EMPLOYEES, 
AUTHORIZED 
EMPLOYEE 
REPRESENTA-
TIVES, 
VOLUNTARY 
EMER-
GENCY 
RESPONDERS, 
AND 
APPLICATION OF ACT 
SEC. 101. COVERAGE OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3(5) of the Occupational 
Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652(5)) is 
amended by striking ‘‘but does not include’’ and all that 
follows through the period at the end and inserting ‘‘in-
cluding the United States, a State, or a political subdivi-
sion of a State.’’. 
(b) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to affect the application of section 18 of the Oc-
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cupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 
667). 
SEC. 102. AUTHORIZED EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATIVES. 
Section 3 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 
of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652) is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(15) AUTHORIZED
EMPLOYEE
REPRESENTA-
TIVE.—The term ‘authorized employee representa-
tive’— 
‘‘(A) means any person or organization 
that for the purposes of this Act represents not 
less than one employee at an establishment, fac-
tory, plant, construction site, or other work-
place, or other environment where work is per-
formed by an employee for an employer; and 
‘‘(B) includes a representative authorized 
by employees, a representative of employees, or 
any other representative of an employee under 
this Act.’’. 
SEC. 103. APPLICATION OF ACT. 
Section 4(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health 
Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 653(b)(1)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and 
(4) as paragraphs (5), (6), and (7), respectively; and 
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(2) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(1) If a Federal agency has promulgated and is en-
forcing a standard or regulation affecting occupational 
safety or health of some or all of the employees within 
that agency’s regulatory jurisdiction, and the Secretary 
determines that such a standard or regulation as promul-
gated and the manner in which the standard or regulation 
is being enforced provides protection to those employees 
that is at least as effective as the protection provided to 
those employees by this Act and the Secretary’s enforce-
ment of this Act, the Secretary may publish a certification 
notice in the Federal Register. The notice shall set forth 
that determination and the reasons for the determination 
and certify that the Secretary has ceded jurisdiction to 
that Federal agency with respect to the specified standard 
or regulation affecting occupational safety or health. In 
determining whether to cede jurisdiction to a Federal 
agency, the Secretary shall seek to avoid duplication of, 
and conflicts between, health and safety requirements. 
Such certification shall remain in effect unless and until 
rescinded by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall, by regulation, establish pro-
cedures by which any person who may be adversely af-
fected by a decision of the Secretary certifying that the 
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Secretary has ceded jurisdiction to another Federal agency 
pursuant to paragraph (1) may petition the Secretary to 
rescind a certification notice under such paragraph. Upon 
receipt of such a petition, the Secretary shall investigate 
the matter involved and shall, not later than 90 days after 
the receipt of the petition, publish a decision with respect 
to the petition in the Federal Register. 
‘‘(3) Any person who may be adversely affected by— 
‘‘(A) a decision of the Secretary certifying that 
the Secretary has ceded jurisdiction to another Fed-
eral agency pursuant to paragraph (1); or 
‘‘(B) a decision of the Secretary denying a peti-
tion to rescind such a certification notice under 
paragraph (1), 
may, not later than 60 days after such decision is pub-
lished in the Federal Register, file a petition challenging 
such decision with the United States Court of Appeals for 
the circuit in which such person resides or such person 
has a principal place of business, for judicial review of 
such decision. A copy of the petition shall be forthwith 
transmitted by the clerk of the court to the Secretary. The 
Secretary’s decision shall be set aside if found to be arbi-
trary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not 
in accordance with law. 
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‘‘(4) Nothing in this Act shall apply to working condi-
tions covered by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act 
of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 801 et seq.).’’. 
TITLE II—INCREASING 
WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS 
SEC. 201. ENHANCED PROTECTIONS FROM RETALIATION. 
(a) EMPLOYEE ACTIONS.—Section 11(c)(1) of the 
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 
660(c)(1)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘discharge’’ and all that follows 
through ‘‘because such’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘discharge or cause to be discharged, or in any man-
ner discriminate against or cause to be discriminated 
against, any employee because— 
‘‘(A) such’’; 
(2) by striking ‘‘this Act or has’’ and inserting 
the following: ‘‘this Act; 
‘‘(B) such employee has’’; 
(3) by striking ‘‘in any such proceeding or be-
cause of the exercise’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘before Congress or in any Federal or State pro-
ceeding related to safety or health; 
‘‘(C) such employee has refused to violate any 
provision of this Act; or 
‘‘(D) of the exercise’’; and 
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(4) by inserting before the period at the end the 
following: ‘‘, including the reporting of any injury, 
illness, or unsafe condition to the employer, agent of 
the employer, safety and health committee involved, 
or employee safety and health representative in-
volved’’. 
(b) PROHIBITION OF RETALIATION.—Section 11(c) 
of such Act (29 U.S.C. 660(c)) is amended by striking 
paragraph (2) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION OF RETALIATION.—(A) No 
person shall discharge, or cause to be discharged, or 
in any manner discriminate against, or cause to be 
discriminated against, an employee for refusing to 
perform the employee’s duties if the employee has a 
reasonable apprehension that performing such duties 
would result in serious injury to, or serious impair-
ment of the health of, the employee or other employ-
ees. 
‘‘(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the 
circumstances causing the employee’s good-faith be-
lief that performing such duties would pose a safety 
or health hazard shall be of such a nature that a 
reasonable person, under the circumstances con-
fronting the employee, would conclude that there is 
such a hazard. In order to qualify for protection 
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under this paragraph, the employee, when prac-
ticable, shall have communicated or attempted to 
communicate the safety or health concern to the em-
ployer and have not received from the employer a re-
sponse reasonably calculated to allay such concern.’’. 
(c) PROCEDURE.—Section 11(c) of such Act (29 
U.S.C. 660(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (3) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(3) COMPLAINT.—Any employee who believes 
that the employee has been discharged, disciplined, 
or otherwise discriminated against by any person in 
violation of paragraph (1) or (2) may seek relief for 
such violation by filing a complaint with the Sec-
retary under paragraph (5). 
‘‘(4) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An employee may take 
the action permitted by paragraph (3) not later 
than 180 days after the later of— 
‘‘(i) the date on which an alleged vio-
lation of paragraph (1) or (2) occurs; or 
‘‘(ii) the date on which the employee 
knows or should reasonably have known 
that such alleged violation occurred. 
‘‘(B) 
REPEAT
VIOLATION.—Except 
in 
cases when the employee has been discharged, 
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‘‘(aa) receive any statements 
or evidence provided to the Sec-
retary; 
‘‘(bb) meet with the Sec-
retary; and 
‘‘(cc) rebut any statements 
or evidence; and 
‘‘(ii) may include issuing subpoenas 
for the purposes of such investigation. 
‘‘(B) DECISION.—Not later than 90 days 
after the filing of the complaint, the Secretary 
shall— 
‘‘(i) determine whether reasonable 
cause exists to believe that a violation of 
paragraph (1) or (2) has occurred; and 
‘‘(ii) issue a decision granting or de-
nying relief. 
‘‘(6) PRELIMINARY ORDER FOLLOWING INVES-
TIGATION.—If, after completion of an investigation 
under paragraph (5)(A), the Secretary finds reason-
able cause to believe that a violation of paragraph 
(1) or (2) has occurred, the Secretary shall issue a 
preliminary order providing relief authorized under 
paragraph (14) at the same time the Secretary 
issues a decision under paragraph (5)(B). If a de 
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novo hearing is not requested within the time period 
required under paragraph (7)(A)(i), such prelimi-
nary order shall be deemed a final order of the Sec-
retary and is not subject to judicial review. 
‘‘(7) HEARING.— 
‘‘(A) REQUEST FOR HEARING.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A de novo hearing 
on the record before an administrative law 
judge may be requested— 
‘‘(I) by the complainant or re-
spondent within 30 days after receiv-
ing notification of a decision granting 
or denying relief issued under para-
graph (5)(B) or a preliminary order 
under paragraph (6), respectively; 
‘‘(II) by the complainant within 
30 days after the date the complaint 
is dismissed without investigation by 
the Secretary under paragraph (5)(A); 
or 
‘‘(III) by the complainant within 
120 days after the date of filing the 
complaint, if the Secretary has not 
issued a decision under paragraph 
(5)(B). 
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‘‘(ii) REINSTATEMENT
ORDER.—The 
request for a hearing shall not operate to 
stay any preliminary reinstatement order 
issued under paragraph (6). 
‘‘(B) PROCEDURES.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—A hearing re-
quested under this paragraph shall be con-
ducted expeditiously and in accordance 
with rules established by the Secretary for 
hearings conducted by administrative law 
judges. 
‘‘(ii) SUBPOENAS; PRODUCTION
OF 
EVIDENCE.—In conducting any such hear-
ing, the administrative law judge may issue 
subpoenas. The respondent or complainant 
may request the issuance of subpoenas 
that require the deposition of, or the at-
tendance and testimony of, witnesses and 
the production of any evidence (including 
any books, papers, documents, or record-
ings) relating to the matter under consid-
eration. 
‘‘(iii) DECISION.—The administrative 
law judge shall issue a decision not later 
than 90 days after the date on which a 
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hearing was requested under this para-
graph and promptly notify, in writing, the 
parties and the Secretary of such decision, 
including the findings of fact and conclu-
sions of law. If the administrative law 
judge finds that a violation of paragraph 
(1) or (2) has occurred, the judge shall 
issue an order for relief under paragraph 
(14). If review under paragraph (8) is not 
timely requested, such order shall be 
deemed a final order of the Secretary that 
is not subject to judicial review. 
‘‘(8) ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 30 
days after the date of notification of a decision 
and order issued by an administrative law judge 
under paragraph (7), the complainant or re-
spondent may file, with objections, an adminis-
trative appeal with an administrative review 
body designated by the Secretary (referred to in 
this paragraph as the ‘review board’). 
‘‘(B) STANDARD OF REVIEW.—In review-
ing the decision and order of the administrative 
law judge, the review board shall affirm the de-
cision and order if it is determined that the fac-
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tual findings set forth therein are supported by 
substantial evidence and the decision and order 
are made in accordance with applicable law. 
‘‘(C) DECISIONS.—If the review board 
grants an administrative appeal, the review 
board shall issue a final decision and order af-
firming or reversing, in whole or in part, the 
decision under review by not later than 90 days 
after receipt of the administrative appeal. If it 
is determined that a violation of paragraph (1) 
or (2) has occurred, the review board shall issue 
a final decision and order providing relief au-
thorized under paragraph (14). Such decision 
and order shall constitute final agency action 
with respect to the matter appealed. 
‘‘(9) SETTLEMENT
IN
THE
ADMINISTRATIVE 
PROCESS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—At any time before 
issuance of a final order, an investigation or 
proceeding under this subsection may be termi-
nated on the basis of a settlement agreement 
entered into by the parties. 
‘‘(B) PUBLIC POLICY CONSIDERATIONS.— 
Neither the Secretary, an administrative law 
judge, nor the review board conducting a hear-
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ing under this subsection shall accept a settle-
ment that contains conditions conflicting with 
the rights protected under this Act or that are 
contrary to public policy, including a restriction 
on a complainant’s right to future employment 
with employers other than the specific employ-
ers named in a complaint. 
‘‘(10) INACTION BY THE REVIEW BOARD OR AD-
MINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The complainant may 
bring a de novo action described in subpara-
graph (B) if— 
‘‘(i) an administrative law judge has 
not issued a decision and order within the 
90-day time period required under para-
graph (7)(B)(iii); or 
‘‘(ii) the review board has not issued 
a decision and order within the 90-day 
time period required under paragraph 
(8)(C). 
‘‘(B) DE NOVO ACTION.—Such de novo ac-
tion may be brought at law or equity in the 
United States district court for the district 
where a violation of paragraph (1) or (2) alleg-
edly occurred or where the complainant resided 
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