NCJ Number
223448
Journal
American Criminal Law Review Volume: 45 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2008 Pages: 341-380
Date Published
2008
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes criminal statutes that punish employers for violations of occupational safety and employment standards.
Abstract
The Federal regulatory scheme described was enacted to ensure worker safety, eliminate labor conditions detrimental to the Nation's commerce and the general welfare of workers, and provide labor unions with greater protection from corrupt union and management officials. The article's section on worker safety explains the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (FMSHA). The discussion of OSHA focuses on two offenses: willful violation of a specific standard, resulting in employee death, and false representation. Enforcement of these provisions and the applicable penalties for offenses are also discussed. FMSHA aims to protect mine worker health and safety through a combination of civil, criminal, and administrative enforcement mechanisms. Following the section on worker safety, the article focuses on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which was enacted to eliminate labor conditions detrimental to the Nation's commerce and the general welfare of workers. It prohibits an employer from failing to pay the Federal minimum wage or overtime compensation to an employee, failing to keep individual work records for each employee, discriminating on the basis of sex by paying different wages for equal work, or using oppressive child labor. A third major section of the article discusses payment or loans by an employer to employees or labor organizations. This is covered under Section 302 of the Taft-Hartley Act, which provides labor unions and their members protection from corrupt union and management officials by prohibiting bribery by employers and extortion by employee representatives. The article's concluding section discusses the protection of union funds under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, which aims to counter corrupt and unethical management of labor unions. 249 notes