The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009 (H.R. 3590) that the House approved on March 21, 2010, creates new whistleblower protections for health care workers and strengthens the coverage of the False Claims Act.
Thousands marched through the center of downtown Raleigh for social justice and in support of the People’s Agenda, which demands that North Carolina abolish the racially-biased death penalty and mandatory sentencing laws; put young people to work to save the environment and fight for environmental justice; have collective bargaining rights for public sector workers and worker safety; and provide high-quality, well-funded and diverse schools for all children and youth.
Sadly, the most important types of employee speech — about safety issues in the workplace — often no longer receive First Amendment protection.
To address the issue of how workplace safety laws can be improved, lawmakers on the House Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing to discuss H.R. 2067, the bill that would amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) by increasing penalties for violators and boosting protections for whistleblowers.
The watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) claims that OSHA does not effectively protect workers who report health and safety hazards.
Over the last decade, an estimated 10,000 miners have died of black-lung disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
It took a bit of arm-twisting, but the San Francisco Fire Department is now involved in what could be the most comprehensive study on cancer rates among firefighters to date.
A new federal report claims that equipment problems and emergency responders’ lack of knowledge about protocol when dealing with flammable gases played a role in the injuries that occurred in May when a natural gas explosion damaged a Forestville, Md., strip mall.
OSHA has proposed $136,000 in fines against William A. Berry & Son Inc. The Danvers, Massachusetts, contractor was cited for 19 alleged violations of OSHA standards while removing asbestos-containing material at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital last September.
