CORZINE CALLS FOR SEVERE PUNISHMENT OF EMPLOYERS WHO VIOLATE SAFETY LAWS

Senator John Corzine (D-NJ) announced today his intention to "introduce legislation to increase criminal penalties for employers who willfully violate safety laws." Corzine's “Wrongful Death Accountability Act’’ would "increase the maximum penalty for willfully ignoring workplace safety regulations from six months jail to 10 years imprisonment."

According to Corzine,

employees have a fundamental right to a safe work environment, and more needs to be done to ensure that businesses that deliberately put the lives of their workers at risk are held accountable for their actions

Currently OSHA can refer cases to federal prosecutors, but the penalties are so small that prosecuters are reluctant to invest the resources needed to successfully prosecute a case. Corzine noted that OSHA criminal statues have not been updated since the 1970s.