OSHA penalties-2.

2015
STATE OF WYOMING
15LSO-0168
Numbered
2.1

SENATE FILE

NO.

SF0072

OSHA penalties-2.

Sponsored by:
Joint Labor, Health & Social Services Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to the Wyoming Occupational Health and Safety Act; providing for an increase in fines and civil penalties as specified; granting authority to negotiate installment payment of penalties; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S.
27
‑
11
‑
105(
b)(ii)(C)
and

27
‑
11
‑
107(b)
, (c)
,
(g)
and by creating a new subsection (j)
are
amended to read:

27
‑
11
‑
105
.

Occupational health and safety commission; powers and duties of commission and department.

(b)

The commission has the following powers and duties:

(ii)

To promulgate, devise, formulate, adopt, amend, and repeal rules and regulations and to appoint advisory committees equally composed of employers and employees from the industries involved to assist and advise the commission:

(C)

The rules and regulations shall not be more stringent than corresponding federal rules and regulations
, except where specifically required by this act
. If there are no corresponding federal rules or regulations the commission may adopt applicable state rules and regulations.

27
‑
11
‑
107
.

Penalty.

(b)

Any employer willfully and knowingly violating any of the provisions of this act, any safety and health standards, rules or regulations promulgated under this act or any existing rule or regulation governing the conditions of employment promulgated by the commission may be assessed
a civil penalty of not less than
five thousand dollars ($5,000.00)
twelve
thousand dollars ($
12
,000.00)
nor more than
seventy thousand dollars ($70,000.00)
one hundred thousand dollars ($1
0
0,000.00)
for each violation, provided that a lesser penalty ma
y be imposed by the commission.

(c)

Any employer violating any provision of this act, any health and safety standards or rules and regulations promulgated under this act or any existing rule or regulation governing the conditions of employment promulgated by the commission, the violation specifically determined to be of a serious nature, shall be assessed a civil penalty of not more than
seven thousand dollars ($7,000.00)
twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00
)
for the violation.

(g)

Any employer who fails to correct a violation for which a notice of violation has been issued, which notice of violation is not contested or appealed under W.S. 27
‑
11
‑
104 and 27
‑
11
‑
106, initiated by the employer, may be assessed a civil penalty of not more than
seven thousand dollars ($7,000.00)
twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00)
for each day the failure or v
iolation continues.

(j)

Any employer
willfully and knowingly
committing a violation of any health and safety standards under
subsection (b), (c) or (g) of
this
section
, or rules and regulations promulgated under
those subsections
,
which materially contributes to causing the death of an employee shall be assessed, in addition to any fine or civil penalty otherwise provided for the violation, an additional civil penalty of
up to
fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00), subject to the following:

(
i
)

The additional penalty may be increased to not more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000.00) for an employer with
two hundred

fifty
(
250
) or more employees
;

(ii)

If the commission issues a valid citation and penalty assessment to an entity other than the employer for a safety violation that materially contributes to the death of a
person, that
entity shall be assessed an additional civil penalty of
up to
fifty thousand dollars ($50,000.00). This penalty shall be separate from and in
addition to any penalty assessed against the employer or its parent or subsidiary;

(iii)

The commission may waive or reduce the penalty provided by this subsection only if:

(A)

The deceased employee owns ten percent (10%) or more of the
employing entity
and the imposition of the penalty would pose a financial hardship on the employee
'
s family or other dependents; or

(B)

The employer or the owner of the employer is a natural person who is also killed or severely injured as a result of the violation that materially contributed to the death of the employee and the imposition of the penalty would pose a financial hardship on the employer
'
s family or dependents.

(iv)

If
the penalties assessed pursuant to this section threaten the financial solvency of the violator or impair
the violator
'
s
ability to implement needed safety measures, the department may negotiate a payment plan to
collect the full penalties due over
a time period
not to exceed
five
(
5
) years.

Section
2
.

This
act is effective July 1,
2015
.

(END)

1
SF0072