Panel approves employer fines in Nevada worker deaths

A state Senate panel Friday approved a stripped-down bill to more than double fines for Nevada employers whose skirting of safety laws leaves employees dead.

The Commerce and Labor Committee unanimously passed SB8 after removing a provision that would have expanded employer liability in a worker death. Action on several other business-related bills was delayed.

SB8 is one of 11 bills being pushed by Commerce and Labor Chairman Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, in response to a series of industrial explosions.

Under current law, an employer whose willful violation of workplace safety laws leads directly to the death of a worker can be jailed six months and fined $20,000 for a first offense. The crime is a misdemeanor.

Lawmakers approved hiking the first-offense penalty to $50,000, and the second-offense fine from $40,000 to $100,000.

Townsend removed a section that would have penalized an employer whose willful violation "creates a condition" that kills a worker. The language was called overly broad by business groups and some lawmakers.

Sen. Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, questioned whether such a crime -- leading to death -- should be at least a gross misdemeanor. The committee may correct that in a later bill, Townsend said.

The panel also considered a proposal by Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, to apply equal rights laws to more small businesses. Under federal law, only workers in businesses with 15 or more employees can successfully sue if they are discriminated against.

Neal wants to drop that number to five. California and Washington are among 26 other states which have passed similar laws.

But concerns from business owners that SB22 could require small companies to accommodate disabled employees prompted Townsend and others to consider applying the new threshold solely to racial discrimination.

Lynda Parven, administrator of the Nevada Equal Rights Commission, said other states have applied such laws across the board.

She said if the bill was passed, it would increase her agency's caseload backlog by about 400 per year. The plan is estimated to affect about 1,200 businesses in the Las Vegas area.

The panel also discussed another bill from Neal, which would allow for review of certain decisions by health maintenance organizations. The committee took no action either on Neal's bill. Townsend said he wanted to hear from the senator first.

Lawmakers also discussed, but took no action on SB9, giving employees the ability to sue if they're injured in a workplace accident caused by an employer's willful misconduct.