House Democratic bill includes hefty fines for labor violations

The House Democrats’ massive social-welfare bill includes a tenfold increase in fines for companies that “willfully” or “repeatedly” violate sections of labor law dealing with hazards or serious physical harm to employees, a push that could set the table for hefty enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine rules.

Forbes reports fines in the 2,465-page bill will reach as high as $70,000 for serious infractions and $700,000 for willful or repeated violations.

The report highlighted moves by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in June to designate COVID-19 as a workplace hazard under its enforcement jurisdiction, before President Biden in September told OSHA to mandate the vaccine or weekly testing for the virus at companies with 100 or more workers. The rule is expected to apply to about 80 million workers.

At the time, the White House referred to fines of $13,600 per violation of the forthcoming rule.

But the House “reconciliation bill” that got through the Budget Committee proposes far higher fines for serious violations of the labor rules, though it is unclear when and if it will pass the full chamber or become law.

Mr. Biden planned to visit Chicago on Wednesday to promote vaccine mandates for businesses but scrapped the trip to focus on negotiations around the reconciliation bill and must-pass spending legislation.

Businesses who face hefty fines for violating federal vaccine rules are seeking clarification on which employees will be counted toward the mandate, how testing will be conducted and how they should handle noncompliance.

The White House said the business community has “very understandable” questions but rulemaking takes time, so the final regulation might still be weeks away.

Republicans are trying to stop the rule. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said Tuesday that while the vaccine is safe and effective at preventing disease, Mr. Biden is overreaching with the OSHA rule.

“President Biden now wants to force employers to act as a sort of medical police force,” he said. “They must impose a vaccine mandate on their workforce or be forced to pay a heavy fine. This mandate is constitutionally dubious, and that’s putting it mildly, and it’s not reasonable and it neglects the interests of business owners, families and individuals alike.”