H.R.2067 - Protecting America's Workers Act of 2009 (PAWA)

Even though the statistics for 2008 appear to show improvement in worker safety, there is very important legislation being developed in the U.S. Congress, one is the Protecting America's Workers Act of 2009 (PAWA. Some highlights of

the PAWA 2009:

• Raises penalties for fatalities from $70,000 to $120,000.
• Raises the baseline penalty from $7,000 to $12,000.
• Prohibits pay loss for inspections for workers, thus encouraging inspections whereas before employers were penalizing workers for safety complaints.
• Enables criminal and felony prosecutions for willful violations.
• Improves whistleblower protections.

You can follow this bill on the 111th United States Congress Open Congress web site here:

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2067/show

A summary of this new bill can be found here:

http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/04/protecting-americas-workers-ac.shtml

Full contents of the bill can be found here:

http://www.usmwf.org/pdf/ProtectingAmericanWorkersAct.pdf

Be Safe!