What This Bill Does
This bill aims to protect workers in meat and poultry slaughter and processing facilities through workplace safety reforms, fair attendance policies, and occupational safety standards. The bill addresses injury rates, unsafe working conditions, and employment practices in meatpacking plants.
##
Who It Affects
- Workers at meat and poultry processing plants
- Meat and poultry processing companies
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service
- State labor agencies
- Federal employees in certain agencies
##
Key Provisions
- The Department of Agriculture cannot allow meat processing facilities to increase production line speeds unless an inspector certifies that the increases will not harm worker safety (Sec. 101)
- Employers with 15 or more workers cannot use "no fault attendance policies" (systems that punish workers for any absence) without explicitly protecting employees who take legally protected leave like medical or family leave (Sec. 112)
- OSHA must conduct targeted inspection programs in every state with meatpacking facilities, focusing on amputations, ergonomic injuries (repetitive strain), line speed hazards, bathroom access, chemical exposure, and temperature hazards (Sec. 124)
- Employers must allow workers immediate access to toilet facilities without punishment and must pay workers for bathroom breaks (Sec. 122)
- Within 1 year, OSHA must propose a workplace safety standard for ergonomic hazards (repetitive motion injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome) at meatpacking plants (Sec. 123)
- Within 3 months, OSHA must propose a standard requiring employers to refer workers with job-related injuries to medical professionals immediately and provide occupational medicine physician services (Sec. 123)
- Within 7 days of enactment, the Secretary of Labor must create an emergency temporary safety standard protecting meatpacking workers from COVID-19 exposure (Sec. 123)
- Meatpacking workers gain enhanced protection from retaliation for reporting safety concerns, with complaints resolved within 90 days and access to court appeals (Sec. 126)
- Employees can sue employers in court for violating attendance policy rules and recover lost wages, interest, liquidated damages, attorney fees, and expert witness costs (Sec. 113)
##
What Changes
If enacted, this bill would:
- Prevent meatpacking facilities from increasing production line speeds without safety certification
- Require employers to stop penalizing workers for using sick leave, family leave, or medical appointments
- Mandate frequent OSHA inspections at all meat and poultry processing plants with focus on specific hazards
- Guarantee workers can use restrooms without delay or punishment
- Require new workplace safety standards for repetitive strain injuries and medical referral procedures
- Require employers to pay workers during bathroom breaks
- Allow workers to refuse unsafe work if they have reasonable fear of serious injury, with legal protection from firing
- Give workers a direct right to sue employers in court for attendance policy violations and recover damages
- Create a temporary COVID-19 safety standard for meatpacking facilities within one week
##
Important Definitions
**Covered establishment:** A meat or poultry slaughtering or processing facility subject to federal inspection under the Federal Meat Inspection Act or Poultry Products Inspection Act.
**Covered period:** The time from when this Act becomes law until 90 days after the federal COVID-19 public health emergency is officially lifted.
**COVID-19 emergency:** The public health emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services on January 31, 2020.
**No fault attendance policy:** A policy where workers face discipline (points or deductions) for any absence, tardiness, or early departure, leading to progressive punishment up to job loss.
**Legally protected leave:** Time off protected by federal, state, or local law, including sick leave, family and medical leave, disability accommodations, and military service leave.
##
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text for most provisions. Section 101(b)(3) prohibits any funding to increase line speeds during the "covered period" (defined as ending 90 days after the COVID-19 emergency is lifted). Section 123(c)(1) requires the emergency COVID-19 standard within 7 days of enactment.
II
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. 270
To improve protections for meatpacking workers, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 2, 2023
Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SAND-
ERS, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry
A BILL
To improve protections for meatpacking workers, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
3
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
4
‘‘Protecting America’s Meatpacking Workers Act of
5
2023’’.
6
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for
7
this Act is as follows:
8
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
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TITLE I—REFORMS TO PROTECT MEAT AND POULTRY
PROCESSING WORKERS
Subtitle A—Department of Agriculture
Sec. 101. Rule on increased line speeds at meat and poultry establishments.
Subtitle B—Fair Attendance Policies
Sec. 111. Definitions.
Sec. 112. Requirements for employers relating to no fault attendance policies
or attendance systems.
Sec. 113. Enforcement authority.
Sec. 114. Regulations.
Sec. 115. Relationship to other laws.
Sec. 116. Waiver of State immunity.
Sec. 117. Severability.
Subtitle C—Occupational Safety and Health Administration Reforms
Sec. 121. Definitions.
Sec. 122. Ensuring compliance with employee rights to use toilet facilities at
covered establishments.
Sec. 123. Occupational safety and health standards to protect employees in cov-
ered establishments.
Sec. 124. Permanent regional emphasis inspection program; expanding inspec-
tions.
Sec. 125. Representatives during physical inspections.
Sec. 126. Enhanced protections from retaliation.
Sec. 127. Regulations to restore a column on required records of work-related
musculoskeletal disorders.
Sec. 128. Funding for additional OSHA inspectors.
Sec. 129. OSHA reporting.
Sec. 130. Private right of action.
Sec. 131. Injunction proceedings.
Subtitle D—Savings Provision
Sec. 136. Savings provision.
TITLE II—FARM SYSTEM REFORMS
Sec. 201. Expanded meat and poultry processing grants.
Sec. 202. Local Agriculture Market Program.
Sec. 203. Restoration of mandatory country of origin labeling for beef and
pork; inclusion of dairy products.
Sec. 204. Definitions in Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921.
Sec. 205. Unlawful practices.
Sec. 206. Spot market purchases of livestock by packers.
Sec. 207. Investigation of live poultry dealers.
Sec. 208. Award of attorney fees.
Sec. 209. Technical amendments.
TITLE III—GAO REPORTS
Sec. 301. Review and report on fragility and national security in the food sys-
tem.
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Sec. 302. Review and report on racial and ethnic disparities in meat and poul-
try processing.
Sec. 303. GAO report on line speeds.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
1
Congress finds that—
2
(1) meat and poultry slaughter and processing
3
is a particularly dangerous occupation, with meat
4
and poultry processing workers suffering injuries at
5
measurably higher rates than workers in other pri-
6
vate sector industries;
7
(2) meat and poultry processing workers face
8
double the rate of amputations as the average work-
9
er in private industry, and injuries such as sprains,
10
lacerations, and contusions are common among poul-
11
try workers;
12
(3) meat and poultry processing workers suffer
13
from musculoskeletal injuries, such as carpal tunnel
14
syndrome, ‘‘trigger finger’’, tendinitis, rotator cuff
15
injuries, lower back injuries, and chronic pain and
16
numbness, in numbers that can exceed 50 percent of
17
workers;
18
(4) higher line speeds in meat and poultry proc-
19
essing facilities is a recognized risk factor that leads
20
to increased risk of both laceration and musculo-
21
skeletal injuries;
22
(5) meat and poultry processing work was and
23
continues to be particularly dangerous during the
24
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic
1
due to, among other factors—
2
(A) the easily transmissible nature of the
3
virus via aerosol and droplet;
4
(B) the close proximity of meat processing
5
workers;
6
(C) cold conditions inside meat processing
7
facilities; and
8
(D) the pace and physical rigor of meat
9
and poultry processing work;
10
(6) during the COVID–19 pandemic, covered
11
establishments have implemented policies and proce-
12
dures that have—
13
(A) increased workers’ risk of exposure to
14
SARS–CoV–2;
15
(B) prioritized processing rates over work-
16
er health and welfare; and
17
(C) caused a disparate adverse impact on
18
Asian, Black, and Latino workers in the meat
19
and poultry processing industry;
20
(7) enforcement of requirements of the Occupa-
21
tional Safety and Health Administration in the meat
22
and poultry processing industry has been fundamen-
23
tally inadequate, especially during the COVID–19
24
pandemic; and
25
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(8) meat and poultry processing workers are
1
subjected to exploitative conditions and abusive be-
2
havior by employers—
3
(A) including—
4
(i) use of abusive and humiliating
5
shouting by supervisors accusing workers
6
of not working fast enough and harassing
7
them to work ‘‘faster’’ and ‘‘harder’’;
8
(ii) use of sexualized language to har-
9
ass women workers to work ‘‘harder’’ and
10
‘‘faster’’;
11
(iii) patterns of direct sexual harass-
12
ment and incidents of sexual assault; and
13
(iv) little or no accountability or re-
14
dress for emotional, sexualized, or psycho-
15
logical abuse due to—
16
(I) weak enforcement of, and
17
noncompliance
with,
discrimination
18
protections; and
19
(II) meat and poultry processing
20
workers not reporting the abuse due
21
to fear of receiving more abuse, hav-
22
ing their employment terminated, or
23
being reported to immigration en-
24
forcement; and
25
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(B) that lead to long-term psychological
1
impacts, including—
2
(i) increased feelings of anger and
3
stress by workers pressured to work faster
4
and more aggressively to slaughter animals
5
on killing lines; and
6
(ii) episodes of panic and fear by
7
workers who were required to continue
8
working during COVID–19 outbreaks.
9
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
10
In this Act:
11
(1) COVERED
ESTABLISHMENT.—The term
12
‘‘covered establishment’’ means—
13
(A) an official establishment (as defined in
14
section 301.2 of title 9, Code of Federal Regu-
15
lations (or successor regulations)) that is sub-
16
ject to inspection under the Federal Meat In-
17
spection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); and
18
(B) an official establishment (as defined in
19
section 381.1 of title 9, Code of Federal Regu-
20
lations (or successor regulations)) that is sub-
21
ject to inspection under the Poultry Products
22
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.).
23
(2) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered pe-
24
riod’’ means the period beginning on the date of en-
25
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•S 270 IS
actment of this Act and ending on the date that is
1
90 days after the date on which the COVID–19
2
emergency is lifted.
3
(3)
COVID–19
EMERGENCY.—The
term
4
‘‘COVID–19 emergency’’ means the public health
5
emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and
6
Human Services under section 319 of the Public
7
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January
8
31, 2020, with respect to COVID–19.
9
(4) EMPLOYEE; EMPLOYER.—Unless otherwise
10
specified, the terms ‘‘employee’’ and ‘‘employer’’
11
have the meanings given those terms in section 3 of
12
the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29
13
U.S.C. 652).
14
TITLE I—REFORMS TO PROTECT
15
MEAT AND POULTRY PROC-
16
ESSING WORKERS
17
Subtitle A—Department of
18
Agriculture
19
SEC. 101. RULE ON INCREASED LINE SPEEDS AT MEAT AND
20
POULTRY ESTABLISHMENTS.
21
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
22
(1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis-
23
trator’’ means the Administrator of the Service.
24
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•S 270 IS
(2) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-
1
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of
2
Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
3
(3) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means
4
the Director of the National Institute for Occupa-
5
tional Safety and Health.
6
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
7
the Secretary of Agriculture.
8
(5) SERVICE.—The term ‘‘Service’’ means the
9
Food Safety Inspection Service.
10
(b) RULE ON WAIVERS.—
11
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other
12
provision of law (including regulations, including
13
sections 303.1(h) and 381.3(b) of title 9, Code of
14
Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)), the
15
Secretary, acting through the Administrator, shall
16
not issue a waiver relating to line speeds at a cov-
17
ered establishment or inspection staffing require-
18
ments for a covered establishment unless the covered
19
establishment—
20
(A) agrees to an inspection conducted by
21
the Assistant Secretary or the Director for the
22
purposes of the waiver; and
23
(B) the Assistant Secretary or the Director
24
certifies to the Secretary that any increases in
25
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•S 270 IS
line speed at the covered establishment would
1
not have an adverse impact on worker safety.
2
(2) INSPECTIONS.—An inspection conducted by
3
the Assistant Secretary or the Director under para-
4
graph (1)(A) shall include—
5
(A) an ergonomic analysis of all jobs in the
6
applicable covered establishment that may expe-
7
rience an increased work pace due to increasing
8
the number of animals being slaughtered—
9
(i) per minute; and
10
(ii) per hour;
11
(B) an assessment of the current rates of
12
musculoskeletal disorders in the covered estab-
13
lishment;
14
(C) a review of current efforts at the cov-
15
ered establishment to mitigate those disorders,
16
including a review of how medical personnel at
17
the covered establishment manage those dis-
18
orders; and
19
(D) a review of the impact of any proposed
20
line speed increases on the pace of work for
21
workers on the slaughter and production lines
22
of the covered establishment (including the
23
workers that package the meat).
24
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•S 270 IS
(3) LIMITATION
ON
AUTHORITY
OVER
LINE
1
SPEEDS.—None of the funds made available to the
2
Secretary during the covered period may be used to
3
develop, propose, finalize, issue, amend, or imple-
4
ment any policy, regulation, directive, constituent
5
update, or any other agency program that would in-
6
crease line speeds at covered establishments.
7
(4) EFFECT ON STATE LAW.—
8
(A) IN
GENERAL.—This subsection shall
9
not preempt or limit any law or regulation of a
10
State or a political subdivision of a State that—
11
(i) imposes requirements that are
12
more protective of worker safety or animal
13
welfare than the requirements of this sub-
14
section; or
15
(ii) creates penalties for conduct regu-
16
lated by this subsection.
17
(B) OTHER LAWS.—The requirements of
18
this subsection are in addition to, and not in
19
lieu of, any other laws protecting worker safety
20
and animal welfare.
21
(c) TRANSPARENCY IN RULEMAKING.—With respect
22
to each rulemaking proceeding initiated by the Adminis-
23
trator on or after the date of enactment of this Act, the
24
Administrator shall comply with—
25
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(1) the data quality guidelines of the Service,
1
which state that the Service and the offices of the
2
Service are held to a standard of transparency to en-
3
sure that the information shared by the Service is
4
presented in an accurate, reliable, and unbiased
5
manner; and
6
(2) Executive Order 13563 (5 U.S.C. 601 note;
7
relating to improving regulation and regulatory re-
8
view), which requires Federal agencies to provide
9
timely online access to relevant scientific information
10
in an open format that can easily be searched and
11
downloaded during a proposed rulemaking.
12
(d) EVALUATION OF RULEMAKING AND POLICIES.—
13
In evaluating the impact of any future rulemaking or pol-
14
icy, the Secretary shall request that the Director conduct
15
an evaluation of the rulemaking or policy that includes a
16
review of—
17
(1) current safety conditions and injuries and
18
illnesses at the applicable covered establishments, in-
19
cluding medical exams and medical histories;
20
(2) whether the policy proposals will increase
21
the pace of work for any employee at the applicable
22
covered establishments; and
23
(3) whether, and the extent to which, the policy
24
proposals will impact worker safety.
25
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•S 270 IS
(e) REPORTS.—
1
(1) REPORT
TO
CONGRESS.—Not later than
2
180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
3
Secretary, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary
4
of Health and Human Services shall each submit to
5
the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For-
6
estry and the Committee on Health, Education,
7
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and the Com-
8
mittee on Agriculture and the Committee on Edu-
9
cation and Labor of the House of Representatives,
10
a report that—
11
(A) describes the actions taken by that
12
Secretary to ensure worker, animal, and food
13
safety during the COVID–19 emergency; and
14
(B) includes an analysis of the issues de-
15
s
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]