Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 310 CMR - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Title 310 CMR 33.00 - Implementation Of M.g.l. C. 111f, Employee And Community "right To Know" › Section 33.07 - Enforcement Procedures

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Willful violations
. Whenever the Department has cause
			 to believe that any employer or manufacturer has willfully and intentionally
			 violated any provision of M.G.L. c. 111F, §§ 16, 17 or 18, or any
			 provision of
			 310 CMR 33.00, the Department
			 may report such willful and intentional violation to the Attorney General and
			 request that the Attorney General bring an action in the appropriate court of
			 the Commonwealth to restrain such violation and seek available
			 penalties.
(2)
Wrongful
			 violations.
(a) Whenever the
			 Department has cause to believe that an employer or manufacturer has wrongfully
			 failed to comply with any provision of M.G.L. c. 111F, §§ 16, 17 or
			 18, or any provision of
			 310 CMR 33.00, the Department
			 may within 120 days of such violation, or within 120 days of the date on which
			 knowledge of the violation is obtained, undertake an investigation.
(b)
Investigations
.
			 The Department shall notify the relevant employer or manufacturer of the
			 investigation by certified mail, return receipt requested. The notice shall
			 include a statement d e tailing the nature of the violation and the date(s) on
			 which it is a lleged to have occured. The notice shall inform the employer or
			 manufacturer that he or she has 20 calendar days in which to respond to the
			 notice, should he or she wish to do so. In conducting an investigation, the
			 Department may consider any relevant information, and may request such
			 information from the employer or manufacturer. The Department shall consider
			 all information received that provides mitigation or extenuation of the
			 violation, including the employer's efforts to obtain information or otherwise
			 comply with the relevant requirements, but shall have no affirmative obligation
			 to develop such information.
(c)
Determination of good cause
. Upon completion of an
			 investigation, the Department shall determine whether good cause exists to
			 believe that a wrongful violation has occured.
1. if the Department determines that good
			 cause does not exist to believe that a wrongful violation has occured, the
			 Department shall notify the employer of such determination in writing within
			 ten days.
2. if the Department
			 determines that good cause does exist to believe that a wrongful violation has
			 occured, the Department shall so notify the employer or manufacturer in writing
			 and shall schedule a conference with the employer or manufacturer to attempt to
			 eliminate the violation.
(d)
Conference, conciliation and
			 persuasion
. At the conference the Department and the employer or
			 manufacturer shall agree upon a reasonable schedule of measures to be taken by
			 the employer or manufacturer to eliminate the violation by a specified date.
			 Failure of an employer or manufacturer to attend a conference, to reach an
			 agreement with the Department, or to meet the schedule established, may be a
			 basis for concluding that conference, conciliation, and persuasion have failed
			 to eliminate the violation. A compliance schedule may be amended, by agreement
			 of the parties, for good cause shown.
(e) When the Department concludes that
			 conference, conciliation, and persuasion have failed to eliminate a violation,
			 the Department may order such remedial action as may b e appropriate. The
			 Department may also request the Attorney General to enforce any such
			 order.