Protecting America’s Workers Act

Key Points

• The bill would extend federal workplace safety protections to cover public employees, including those working for state, local, and federal governments. Currently, many government workers lack the same OSHA protections as private-sector employees.
• Maximum civil penalties for the most serious workplace safety violations would increase tenfold, from $70,000 to $700,000 for willful or repeated violations, and from $7,000 to $70,000 for serious violations. Penalties would also be adjusted annually for inflation.
• Workers who report unsafe conditions would gain stronger whistleblower protections, including a clear right to refuse dangerous work and new legal avenues to seek relief. Employers could not force workers to waive these rights through pre-dispute arbitration agreements.
• Families of workers killed or seriously injured on the job would gain new rights to participate in the investigation and enforcement process, including the right to meet with safety officials and receive copies of citations and reports.
• Criminal penalties for employers whose knowing safety violations lead to a worker's death would increase from 6 months to up to 10 years in prison, with repeat offenders facing up to 20 years. The definition of 'employer' for criminal liability would expand to include officers and directors.
• Employers would be required to report incidents that hospitalize two or more workers and would be banned from having policies that discourage injury reporting. Electronic reporting of workplace injuries would be required to be made publicly searchable.