Employment Law Violations

• Pages: 525-569
• Date: 01 July 2024
• Published date: 01 July 2024
• Author: Justin Bennett
• Subject Matter: Derecho Penal

EMPLOYMENT LAW VIOLATIONS

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

II. WORKER SAFETY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

A. The Occupational Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

1. Employer’s Willful Violation of a Standard Causing Death 527

a. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 527

i. Employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528

ii. Willful Violation .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530

iii. Specif‌ic Standard, Rule, Order, or Regulation . . 531

iv. Causes Death of Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531

b. Defenses .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

i. Preemption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

ii. Unpreventable or Unforeseeable Employee

Misconduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

iii. Impossibility of Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533

iv. Greater Hazard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

v. General Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534

2. Advance Notice of Inspection Without Authority . . . . . . . 535

3. False Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

4. Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

5. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

B. Federal Mine Safety and Health Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540

III. THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541

A. Prohibited Acts Under the FLSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

1. Failing to Pay the Federal Minimum Wage or Overtime

Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542

2. Discharging an Employee for Filing a Complaint . . . . . . . 543

3. Discriminating on the Basis of Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543

B. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

1. Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546

2. Employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550

3. Willful Violation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

D. Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

E. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 554

IV. PAYMENT OR LOANS BY EMPLOYER TO EMPLOYEES OR LABOR

ORGANIZATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

A. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

1. Employer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556

2. Willfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557

525

3. Pay or Lend Money or Thing of Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

4. Employee or Representative of an Employee . . . . . . . . . . 559

5. Request or Receive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

B. Exceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 560

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563

V. PROTECTING UNION FUNDS UNDER THE LABOR-MANAGEMENT

REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE ACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564

A. Elements of the Offense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

1. Off‌icer or Employee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565

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

Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566

3. Fraudulent Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

B. Defenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568

C. Penalties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569

I. INTRODUCTION

This Article analyzes statutes that create criminal liability for violations of occupa-

tional safety and employment standards.

1

Congress has enacted regulatory 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 crimi-

nal 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

II. WORKER SAFETY

This Section discusses the OSHA

7

and the FMSHA,

8

which create criminal

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

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).

7. 29 U.S.C. §§ 651–678.

8. 30 U.S.C. §§ 801–966.

526 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 61:525

enforcement, and the applicable penalties for offenses.

9

Part B discusses the

FMSHA and the elements of its offenses.

10

A. The Occupational Safety and Health Act

Congress enacted the OSHA to, in part, ensure safe and healthy working condi-

tions in American workplaces.

11

To fulf‌ill this purpose, the OSHA imposes two

duties on employers: the general duty and the special duty.

12

The general duty, a

catchall duty, requires employers to provide employees with safe employment and

a safe place of employment.

13

The special duty requires employers to “comply

with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under [theAct].”

14

The 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 represen-

tation regarding OSHA compliance.

18

This Section discusses each of these situations,

then reviews OSHA enforcement and penalties generally.

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

The following subsections discuss (a) the elements of this offense and (b) the

available defenses.

a. Elements of the Offense

Criminal sanctions may be imposed if (i) an employer (ii) willfully violates

(iii) a specif‌ic standard, rule, order, or regulation, and (iv) the violation causes

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 the OSHA);

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

of the OSHA “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 the OSHA indicates an employer’s duty to provide a safe working environment extends beyond

compliance with specif‌ic standards included in regulations promulgated under the Act).

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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