Employment Law Violations

• Pages: 519-562
• Date: 01 July 2025
• Published date: 01 July 2025
• Author: Amy Pestenariu
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law

EMPLOYMENT LAW VIOLATIONS

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

II. WORKER SAFETY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

A. The Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

1. Employer’s Willful Violation of a Standard Causing Death 522

a. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

i. Employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

ii. Willful Violation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

iii. Specif‌ic Standard, Rule, Order, or Regulation . . 525

iv. Causes Death of Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525

b. Defenses 526

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

i. Preemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

ii. Unpreventable or Unforeseeable Employee

Misconduct. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

iii. Impossibility of Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

iv. Greater Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

v. General Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

2. Advance Notice of Inspection Without Authority . . . . . . . 529

3. False Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

4. Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

5. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

B. Federal Mine Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

III. THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

A. Prohibited Acts Under the FLSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

1. Failing to Pay the Federal Minimum Wage or Overtime

Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

2. Discharging an Employee for Filing a Complaint . . . . . . . 537

3. Discriminating on the Basis of Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

B. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

1. Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

2. Employer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544

3. Willful Violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

D. Enforcement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547

E. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548

IV. PAYMENT OR LOANS BY EMPLOYER TO EMPLOYEES OR LABOR

ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549

A. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

1. Employer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

2. Willfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

519

3. Pay or Lend Money or Thing of Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552

4. Employee or Representative of an Employee . . . . . . . . . . 552

5. Request or Receive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

B. Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

V. PROTECTING UNION FUNDS UNDER THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT

REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

A. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

1. Off‌icer or Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

2. Appropriation of Union Assets for One’s Own or Another’s

Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559

3. Fraudulent Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561

B. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562

I. INTRODUCTION

This Article analyzes statutes that create criminal liability for violations of

occupational safety and employment standards.

1

Congress has enacted regula-

tory schemes 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.

Section II discusses criminal sanctions relevant to worker safety under the

Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”)

2

and the Federal Mine Safety

and Health Act (“FMSHA”).

3

Section III analyzes criminal sanctions applicable to

employment practices under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).

4

Section IV

discusses § 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act (“Taft-Hartley Act”),

which prohibits employers from making payments and loans to employees or labor

organizations.

5

Finally, Section V reviews § 501(c) of the Labor-Management

Reporting and Disclosure Act (“LMRDA”), which prevents appropriations of union

funds for non-union purposes.

6

1. This article does not discuss 18 U.S.C. § 664, which prohibits the embezzlement and theft of property from

an employee pension or welfare benef‌it plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974

(ERISA) codif‌ied at 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001–1461. For a discussion on criminal liability associated with

whistleblower protections, see the Securities Fraud article in this Issue.

2. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 651–678.

3. Federal Mine Safety and Health Act (FMSHA), 30 U.S.C. §§ 801–966.

4. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201–219.

5. Labor Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act § 302, 29 U.S.C. § 186.

6. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. § 501(c).

520 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 62:519

II. WORKER SAFETY

This Section discusses OSHA

7

and the FMSHA,

8

which create criminal liability

for violators under certain circumstances. Part A analyzes OSHA, its enforcement,

and the applicable penalties for offenses.

9

Part B discusses the FMSHA and the ele-

ments of its offenses.

10

A. The Occupational Safety and Health Act

Congress enacted OSHA, in part, to ensure safe and healthy working conditions

in American workplaces.

11

To fulf‌ill this purpose, OSHA imposes two duties on

employers: the “general duty” and the “special duty.”

12

The general duty, a catch-

all, requires employers to provide employees with a safe working environment.

13

The special duty requires employers to “comply with occupational safety and

health standards promulgated under [the Act].”

14

OSHA provides for criminal sanctions

15

in three situations: (1) when an

employer’s willful violation of an OSHA standard, rule, order, or regulation

causes the death of an employee;

16

(2) when any person gives unauthorized

advance notice of an OSHA inspection;

17

and (3) when a person makes a false

statement or representation regarding OSHA compliance.

18

This Section dis-

cusses each of these situations, then reviews OSHA enforcement and penalties

generally.

7. 29 U.S.C. §§ 651–678.

8. 30 U.S.C. §§ 801–966.

9. See 29 U.S.C. §§ 651–678.

10. See 30 U.S.C. §§ 801–966.

11. 29 U.S.C. §§ 651–678; see also S. REP. NO. 91-1282, at 5177 (1970) (stating the purpose of OSHA); cf.

Indus. Union Dep’t, AFL-CIO v. Am. Petroleum Inst., 448 U.S. 607, 646 (1980) (noting that OSHA’s legislative

history “supports the conclusion that Congress was concerned, not with absolute safety, but with the elimination

of signif‌icant harm.”).

12. See 29 U.S.C. § 654(a).

13. See 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1); Ramsey Winch, Inc. v. Henry, 555 F.3d 1199, 1205 (10th Cir. 2009) (noting

Congress’ intent in enacting the general duty clause was to protect employees working under “special

circumstances for which no standard has yet been adopted”); Fabi Constr. Co. v. Sec’y of Lab., 508 F.3d 1077,

1081 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (interpreting the general duty clause to impose a “reasonably prudent employer” standard);

Reich v. Arcadian Corp., 110 F.3d 1192, 1196 (5th Cir. 1997) (stating that, absent specif‌ic regulations, the

general duty clause acts as “catchall provision”).

14. 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(2). Additionally, compliance with specif‌ic standards may not excuse an employer from

obligations of the general duty clause. See Safeway, Inc. v. OSHRC, 382 F.3d 1189, 1194–95 (10th Cir. 2004)

(holding that an employer’s duty to provide a safe working environment extends beyond compliance with

specif‌ic standards included in regulations promulgated under OSHA).

15. For any violation, an employer may be subject to civil f‌ines as well as criminal liability. See S.A. Healy

Co. v. OSHRC, 138 F.3d 686, 688 (7th Cir. 1998).

16. 29 U.S.C. § 666(e).

17. Id. § 666(f).

18. Id. § 666(g).

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