{"id":5594,"date":"2021-02-23T15:56:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T20:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/mccann\/?p=5594"},"modified":"2021-02-23T15:56:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T20:56:38","slug":"senate-democrats-introduce-bills-protecting-workers-rights-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/mccann\/2021\/02\/23\/senate-democrats-introduce-bills-protecting-workers-rights-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate Democrats Introduce Bills Protecting Workers\u2019 Rights, Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LANSING, Mich. (Feb. 23, 2021) \u2014 A coalition of Senate Democrats have reintroduced legislation to protect workers from unscrupulous employers who may not have their employees\u2019 well-being at the forefront of their operations.<br \/><br \/>Sens.&nbsp;<strong>Winnie Brinks<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Grand Rapids),&nbsp;<strong>Stephanie Chang<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Detroit),&nbsp;<strong>Sean McCann<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Kalamazoo),&nbsp;<strong>Jeremy Moss<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Southfield), and&nbsp;<strong>Sylvia Santana<\/strong>&nbsp;(D-Detroit) have introduced Senate Bills 161-165 to ensure essential workers can access workers\u2019 compensation benefits, that the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) creates and enforces guidelines for workplace safety, and more.<br \/><br \/>\u201cThis pandemic has exposed serious shortcomings when it comes to workplace safety laws. Thankfully, the Whitmer administration understands this. However, Michigan needs to place strong workplace protections into law, for the long-term, to ensure workers can do their job safely, without being exposed to unnecessary risks, and with a strong system of accountability,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Chang<\/strong>&nbsp;said. \u201cWe must have workers\u2019 compensation presumption for COVID-19, a strong Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration with more substantial fines, whistleblower protections, protection from retaliation in the workplace, and expanded testing for employees.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Recently, Michigan topped&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlive.com\/public-interest\/2021\/02\/michigan-tops-100-covid-19-workplace-safety-citations-with-latest-batch.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">100 health or safety violations<\/a>&nbsp;by employers against employees related to the COVID-19 pandemic.<br \/><br \/>\u201cTesting capabilities in Michigan are much more advanced and accessible since we first introduced this legislation last term. However, we can and must do more to ensure our workplaces have the best interest of their employees in mind as they work to keep businesses open every day. That includes providing information workers need if they are concerned that they might be exposed,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Brinks<\/strong>&nbsp;added. \u201cWithout giving businesses and their employees every necessary tool to continue fighting this virus, we are doing them and their patrons a huge disservice.\u201d<br \/><br \/>The bills introduced are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0161\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 161<\/a>&nbsp;(McCann): Presumes essential workers who test positive for COVID-19, without knowing their time of infection, contracted the virus during their employment and are therefore eligible for workers&#8217; compensation benefits.<\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0162\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 162<\/a>&nbsp;(Chang): Encourages collaboration among MIOSHA and other state regulatory agencies to create general industry standards to mitigate COVID-19 exposure in the workplace. It also increases MIOSHA fines and penalties to strengthen accountability.<\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0163\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 163<\/a>&nbsp;(Santana): Protects employees from adverse action if they report unsafe work conditions to MIOSHA.<\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0164\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 164<\/a>&nbsp;(Moss): Protects employees from adverse action if they are unable to come into work for any reasons related to COVID-19.<\/li><li><a href=\"http:\/\/legislature.mi.gov\/doc.aspx?2021-SB-0165\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Senate Bill 165<\/a>&nbsp;(Brinks): Requires employers to obtain, publicly post, and make readily available to employees a list of testing sites from their local public health department.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI represent one of our state\u2019s largest economic hubs and, as our economy comes back online, Michigan families deserve to know that we are fighting to implement every needed protection at their workplace to keep everyone healthy. We won\u2019t have a thriving economy without a healthy workforce,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Moss<\/strong>&nbsp;said. \u201cThese bills would keep workplaces safe while also giving critical consideration to those with underlying health conditions, lack of access to safe transit, and other barriers.\u201d<br \/><br \/>MIOSHA regularly updates citations issued to companies found in violation of COVID-19 protocols. Companies that do not follow the guidelines are subject to emergency rule citations that can include fines up to $7,000,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickondetroit.com\/news\/michigan\/2021\/02\/19\/16-michigan-businesses-cited-for-covid-19-safety-violations-state-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">due to the COVID-19 related violations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A full list of citations issued to this point \u2014 including company names, violations, and total fines \u2014 can be found\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/documents\/leo\/citations_summary_700147_7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">online<\/a>.<br \/><br \/>\u201cAs I stated last year, we must focus on our workers and how we can make the workplace safe for them to return,\u201d\u00a0<strong>Sen. Santana<\/strong>\u00a0said. \u201cFor a post-pandemic economy to thrive, we must have healthy workers and a safe work environment.\u201d<br \/><br \/>The legislation was inspired by the Senate Democrats\u2019\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedems.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Policy-FINAL-Report-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">proposal last year on regenerating Michigan\u2019s economy<\/a>, and reflects their continued commitment to putting workers and workplace safety first.<br \/><br \/>\u201cEssential workers have risked exposure to COVID-19 to keep our economy running throughout this pandemic,\u201d\u00a0<strong>Sen. McCann<\/strong>\u00a0said. \u201cBy ensuring essential workers are protected with workers\u2019 compensation if they get sick with COVID-19, we can give them the safety and confidence they need so they won\u2019t lose their job, their car, or their house.\u201d<br \/><br \/>The bills have been referred to the Senate Economic and Small Business Development Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANSING, Mich. (Feb. 23, 2021) \u2014 A coalition of Senate Democrats have reintroduced legislation to protect workers from unscrupulous employers who may not have their employees\u2019 well-being at the forefront [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.4 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senate Democrats Introduce Bills Protecting Workers\u2019 Rights, Safety - Senator Sean McCann<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.senatedems.com\/mccann\/2021\/02\/23\/senate-democrats-introduce-bills-protecting-workers-rights-safety\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate Democrats Introduce Bills Protecting Workers\u2019 Rights, Safety\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LANSING, Mich. 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