Joint comments on OSHA’s NPRM on tracking workplace injuries. Letter to OSHA from CPR Member Scholars Tom McGarity and Sid Shapiro and CPR Policy Analyst Katie Tracy opposing provisions that would roll back requirements in the 2016 final rule, Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, September 28, 2018.

Letters to Maryland Gubernatorial Candidates re Worker Safety. Read a letter from CPR's Rena Steinzor and Katie Tracy to Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous calling for a strengthened Maryland Occupational Safety and Health division, September 21, 2018.

Joint Letters to Food Safety Inspection Service re poulty plant line speeds. CPR and 11 other organizations write to oppose requests from four poultry processors (Ozark Mountain Poultry, Peco Poultry, Pilgrim's Pride, Gerber Poultry) for waivers that would allow them to operate their evisceration lines at speeds that pose health and safety risks to workers and consumers. July 31, 2018. 

Joint letter to the Food Safety Inspection Service on proposed swine slaughter rule.

Joint Letter to House and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairs and Ranking Members from Tom McGarity, Sid Shapiro, and Rena Steinzor opposing section of the House Farm Bill (H.R. 2) that would codify exemption of high-risk retail facilities that sell hazardous chemicals to commercial end users from OSHA’s Process Safety Management standard, September 24, 2018.

More than 30,000 workers have died as a result of on-the-job injuries since 2009, many because their employers failed to follow safety procedures -- violations for which OSHA imposed fines. But a report from CPR finds that OSHA is routinely discounting those fines, greatly diminishing any deterrent value.

Inadequately regulated chemical hazards are at their deadliest in the workplace. People exposed to toxics at work tend to encounter dangerous substances more frequently, for longer durations, and at higher levels than the public at large. Workers are at substantial risk across dozens of sectors including agriculture, domestic cleaning, hair and nail salons, home repairs, building construction, and chemical manufacturing. Read CPR's Detox for the Workplace handbook to see how workers can protect themselves.

Remarks of Katie Tracy on 11(c) Whistleblower Protections at OSHA Stakeholder Meeting, May 14, 2019.

The Center for Progressive Reform with 66 organizations and individuals on comments to OSHA recommending improvements to its administration of whistleblower protection provisions under Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, May 7, 2019.

The Center for Progressive Reform joined 100+ organizations in a Workers’ Memorial Week letter to the Department of Labor calling for a federal heat stress standard to protect workers from the growing dangers of climate change and rising temperatures, April 26, 2019.

CPR Policy Analyst Katie Tracy joined more than 50 health and safety activists on a letter to the Chemical Safety Board expressing objection to the exclusion of the victim’s names in the agency’s investigation report of the 2018 fatal blowout at the Pryor Trust gas well in Oklahoma. June 17, 2019.

Read a joint letter from 100+ organizations, including CPR, in support of the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act (HR 2668), directing OSHA to issue a standard on the prevention of excessive heat in the workplace, July 17, 2019.

Rena Steinzor and Policy Analyst Matt Shudtz's comments urging the Department of Labor to withdraw its Risk Assessment proposal.

Risk Assessment Bulletin. Member Scholar Rena Steinzor's June 15, 2006 letter to OMB urging it to withdraw its proposed risk assessment bulletin.

Coalition letter requesting extension of comment period on OSHA risk assessment policy, signed by more than 40 policy experts, including CPR's Rena Steinzor

February 9, 2010,

CPR Comments to OSHA on its Hazard Communication standard

Comments to NIOSH re carcinogen classification system and recommended exposure limits, applauding effort to review existing standards and offering specific recommendations

July 19, 2012,

January 11, 2013,

West Explosion Highlights Need for Regulatory Oversight, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

CPR comments on proposed OSHA rule on respirable silica, encouraging OSHA to act with a sense of urgency

'Michael Patoka's Testimony on Maryland's SB 774, Occupational Safety and Health Prequalification for construction firms before entering bids for public contracts

Matthew Shudtz' testimony at OSHA Hearing on Proposed Standard for Respirable Silica Dust, April 3, 2014

Criminal investigations crucial to making refineries safer, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

With DuPont, OSHA's tough talk falls faint, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Kill a Worker? You're Not a Criminal. Steal a Worker's Pay? You Are One, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Letter to Department of Labor on Executive Order 13673 Guidance, "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces," on behalf of poultry and meatpacking workers.

Katherine Weatherford's letter to Maryland Delegates Dereck E. Davis and Sally Jameson on Construction Safety bill, HB 977, February 29, 2016.

Joint comments on draft OSHA Guidance: Recommended Practices for Preventing and Addressing Retaliation.

March 24, 2016,

Judgment Day for Reckless Executives, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Worker Deaths Should Lead to Punishment for Companies, Executives, op-ed by Rena Steinzor and Katie Tracy

June 30, 2016,

Letter to OSHA on Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Catch-Up Adjustments from Martha McCluskey, Thomas McGarity, Sidney Shapiro, and Katherine Tracy, July 11, 2016.

OSHA Penalties Are Too Low for Serious Workplace Violations, op-ed by Martha McCluskey

July 29, 2016,

Time to Reform Workers' Compensation Laws, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Texas Lawmakers Must Stop Eroding Workers' Compensation Laws, op-ed by Thomas McGarity and Sidney Shapiro

Before Scuttling Regulations, Remember the Deadly, Destructive West Explosion, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Preventing Death and Injury on the Job: The Criminal Justice Alternative in State Law, CPR Paper 1602. This manual begins by explaining why local prosecutors should focus more attention on bringing criminal charges against employers—the business entity as well as responsible executives and managers—in appropriate cases involving the death or serious injury of one or more workers. It also offers an introduction to criminal law and criminal procedure to help advocates understand what charges might apply. Then, this manual discusses how to build a successful campaign, and provides an appendix of helpful resources that advocates can utilize and tailor to fit their campaign.

Federal Proposal Would Jeopardize Public Safety, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Federal Rules to Prevent Another Deadly West Blast Now at Risk, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Matthew Shudtz and Katherine Tracy's February 15, 2017, written testimony to the Maryland General Assembly's Standing Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Education & Economic Developments on funding for worker safety standards enforcement.

Katherine Tracy's March 6, 2017, written testimony to the Maryland General Assembly's Economic Matters Committee on public works contracts and contractor occupational safety and health requirements.

Letter to Several Federal Agencies re the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to expand the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point-based Inspection Models Project (HIMP) pilot program throughout the hog-processing industry.

Letter to USDA Food Safety Inspection Service and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, co-signed by CPR Policy Analyst Katherine Tracy, June 16, 2017.

Raise Maximum Fine to Deter Unsafe Working Conditions, op-ed by Martha McCluskey and Matt London

Joint Letter to USDA from Matt Shudtz, National Council of La Raza, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Celeste Montforton, re worker safety data collection.

Letter to OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs, co-signed by CPR's Thomas O. McGarity, Sidney Shapiro, Rena Steinzor, Katherine Tracy, September 15, 2017.

October 30, 2017,

Letter to the Director of the Division of Regulations, Legislation and Interpretation Wage and Hour Division U.S. Department of Labor on Tip Rule Data Cover-up

Katherine Tracy and Matthew Shudtz' testimony (submitted) to Maryland General Assembly House Standing Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Education & Economic Development

Joint Letter to Agriculture Secretary re Swine Slaughter Rule. Joint Letter from CPR and 18 other organizations urging Secretary Sonny Perdue to conduct public hearings and weigh peer review, March 15, 2018.

Maryland Must Prioritize Worker Safety, op-ed by Katie Tracy

West-inspired EPA rules destined for ashes as chemical industry wins big, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Baltimore employer of smothered worker should be held criminally accountable, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

A Baltimore Sun op-ed by Katie Tracy and Shanna Devine: Amazon Prime: Workers pay a price for fast, free shipping.

CPR's first- and only-of-its-kind Crimes Against Workers Database offers detailed information, readily searchable, about state criminal cases and grassroots advocacy campaigns against employers responsible for crimes against workers – leaving them dead, maimed, seriously injured or sick, or robbing them of some or all of their paychecks.

A unique advocacy guide highlights the ways workers and worker advocates can help make workplaces safe from toxics.

CPR’s Rena Steinzor, Katie Tracy, and David Flores joined with 19 individuals and organizations calling on Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh to open a criminal investigation into a worksite trench collapse on July 23, 2019 in Fairfax County, Virginia, killing a teenager and injuring an adult male, August 19, 2019.

CPR's May 8, 2019, webinar featuring CPR's Katie Tracy, Joe Santarella of Santarella & Eckert, LLC, and Mike Schade, Director of the Mind the Store Campaign of Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families.

CPR was one of 30 organizations writing in support of a petition from the AFL-CIO calling for an OSHA emergency temporary standard for infectious disease to address the Coronavirus epidemic. March 13, 2020.

CPR joined with 48 public interest organizations on a letter endorsing passage of the COVID-19 Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2020, a vital bill to require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19.

Worker safety advocates from CPR and the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health expressed outrage today at the newly released coronavirus guidance from the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control (CDC), which fails to protect essential workers, is weaker than previous guidance, and is not based on scientific evidence. Reports of essential workers dying on the job from the COVID-19 pandemic underscore the need for additional protections, not less.

CPR joined more than 500 labor, racial, legal, interfaith, and women’s justice organizations and individuals on a letter demanding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention retract its flawed guidance that allows workers exposed to coronavirus to return to work without self-quarantining.

CPR joined more than 50 organizations in a letter urging Congress to ensure that its coronavirus stimulus legislation protects food workers and producers and a safe, resilient food system instead of exploitative industrial livestock production.

CPR joined more than 750 organizations in a letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue urging the agency to allocate $9.5 billion appropriated for farmers in the CARES Act to local producers rather than corporate agribusiness.

Writing for FairWarning and the Sacramento Bee, Rena Steinzor and Katie Tracy point to recent on-the-job deaths that resulted from employer negligence and call for prosecution of companies, supervisors and executives who cut corners at the expense of their employees life and limb.

Writing for The American Prospect, Rena Steinzor takes note of the unusual roll call of supporters for criminal justice reform legislation, and efforts by conservatives to use the bill to weaken enforcement of white-collar crime laws.

Writing for The Huffington Post, Rena Steinzor and Matthew Shudtz call on President Obama to focus more energy on OSHA's obligation to protect workers on the job from a range of safety hazards.

CPR joined with 117 other major labor, worker, consumer, small business, civil rights, women's rights, environmental, legal, justice, health and safety organizations in a letter to congressional leaders opposing legislation that would immunize unsafe businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

CPR joined more than 225 other worker safety organizations in urging Members of Congress to pass the COVID-19 Every Worker Protection Act, which would require OSHA to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to protect all workers who continue to go to work during the pandemic from exposure to the coronavirus.

In the Baltimore Sun: President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act to order meat and poultry plants to continue operating despite COVID-19 outbreaks, exposing Maryland's poultry workers to enormous risks. Poultry processors haven't demonstrated they're able to keep workers safe and healthy, but they know that many of these low-wage workers will be forced to return. To top it all off, one of the president's goals with this order was to provide legal immunity to companies, so that they can't be sued by employees who are infected as a result of unsafe working conditions.

Comment letter to OSHA ahead of its Whistleblower Stakeholder Meeting on May 12, 2020, providing recommendations on how the agency can address key issues and improve its administration of the Whistleblower Protection Program.

Writing in the Waco Tribune, Thomas McGarity warns that Sen. Mitch McConnell's effort to extend a federal COVID-19 liability shield over businesses will endanger workers' lives. Such immunity from accountability would allow employers to force workers to choose between losing their jobs or returning to workplaces where they are not sufficiently protected from the coronavirus.

Responding to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's threat to attach to a future stimulus bill a liability shield for companies that fail to protect workers or consumers from the coronavirus, CPR Member Scholars and staff wrote to congressional leaders urging that they not interfere with the ability of workers, consumers, and members of their families to hold businesses accountable when their unreasonably dangerous actions have caused them to contract COVID-19.

Katie Tracy’s testimony to OSHA, delivered virtually, during a Whistleblower Stakeholder Meeting, recommending several improvements the agency should make to its Whistleblower Protection Program.

The "re-opening" of the American economy while the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is still circulating puts workers at heightened risk of contracting the deadly virus. In some blue-collar industries, the risk is particularly acute because of the inherent nature of the work itself and of the workplaces in which it is conducted. And the risk, for a variety of reasons, falls disproportionately on people of color and low-income workers. With governors stay-at-home orders and other pandemic safety restrictions, CPR Member Scholars Thomas McGarity, Michael Duff, and Sidney Shapiro examine the federal government's many missed opportunities to stem the spread of the virus in the nation's workplaces, and make recommendations for what needs to happen next to protect employees on the job.

Even as COVID-19 continues to rage across the United States, governments and industries are "reopening" the American economy. As a new report from the Center for Progressive Reform shows, in the absence of sufficient safeguards, this puts workers and the general public at heightened risk of contracting the deadly virus.

The nation's workplaces are not nearly as safe or healthy as they need to be to protect all workers, and workers lack the power they deserve to speak up against exploitation without fear of significant retaliation. Fixing the current system requires an updated and vastly improved labor law that empowers workers to speak up about health and safety hazards, rather than risk their lives out of fear of losing employment and pay. It also requires that workers be empowered to fight back when government agencies fail to enforce safety and health requirements. The authors propose guaranteeing all workers a private right of action to enforce violations of the law, coupled with incentives for speaking up and strong whistleblower protections.

Over the last several decades, U.S. workers have been systematically disempowered and silenced. A new report from the Center for Progressive Reform explains that because of this, the nation's workplaces are not nearly as safe or healthy as they need to be, and workers lack the power they deserve to speak up against exploitation and abuse without fear of significant retaliation. Read the news release accompanying CPR's report, OSHA's Next 50 Years: Legislating a Private Right of Action to Empower Workers.

CPR joined unions, public health professionals, advocates, workers, faith leaders, and Maryland residents across the state calling on Governor Hogan to issue an executive order requiring the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) division of the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation to adopt an emergency standard to protect workers from the novel coronavirus.

The Center for Progressive Reform is among nine recipients of a national grant by Clean Slate for Worker Power to advance labor law reform. The $47,200 award will help CPR advocate for a private right of action that would allow workers to enforce Maryland health and safety laws and identify complementary policies that provide workers a more formal role in government-led enforcement, such as participation in inspections and enhanced whistleblower protections.

CPR joined with 70+ organizations in a joint letter to Maryland legislative leaders calling on them to convene a special session of the Maryland legislature in order to adopt legislation to protect the state's farmworkers from COVID-19.

CPR's Gillian Metzger, joins fellow Ruth Bader Ginsburg former clerk Abbe Gluck in a New York Times tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice.

CPR joined more than 85 worker safety organizations in a joint letter to Sens. Kamala Harris and Sherrod Brown, expressing support for the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act. The bill directs OSHA to issue a heat stress standard for outdoor and indoor workers.

Workers presently have no right to bring a lawsuit against employers under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) or equivalent state laws when employers fail to provide safe and healthy working conditions. This gap in the law has been especially troubling during the COVID-19 pandemic, as workers across the United States have faced a massive workplace health crisis without any meaningful support from OSHA or most states or territories. Even with an incoming OSHA that is more supportive of workers’ rights and expected to better enforce standards, providing workers a “private right of action” will bolster the agency’s activities. In our March 5 webinar, attendees heard from attorneys who support legislative measures to empower workers by providing them a “private right of action” to enforce the law.

CPR joined the Government Accountability Project and 263 other organizations in calling on the Biden-Harris administration and Congress to improve federal whistleblower protections for public-sector workers.

CPR joined workers' rights, occupational safety and health, academic, and faith organizations and leaders in a letter to President Joe Biden, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) urging approval of OSHA's long overdue Emergency Temporary Standard to protect frontline workers from COVID-19.

CPR Senior Policy Analyst M. Isabelle Chaudry testified to the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH) Division of Labor and Industry about heat stress protections for Maryland workers. She provided the agency with recommendations to ensure that its forthcoming standard is effective, strong, and worker-centered.

On October 26, 2021, CPR Vice President Sidney Shapiro testified about the need and legality of the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine standard for workplaces. Shapiro presented his testimony to the Workplace Protections and Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittees of the House Education and Labor Committee.

The Center for Progressive Reform joined more than 100 workers’ rights organizations, national organizations, and local and community organizations in opposing the U.S. State Department's pending au pair rule. The rule would undermines labor standards and is at odds with the administration’s support for care workers.

Although vaccination rates continue to rise and coverage on COVID-19 is fading away from prominent news dashboards, our rates are still higher than in summer 2020. While we still adapt to living and working with COVID-19, we must prepare for future public health emergencies so we do not lose another year figuring out our response.

Arbitration requires people to go through a private dispute resolution process, is often biased against workers and consumers, and typically slams the courthouse doors on those who are injured or harmed in the workplace. It's a standard condition in most, if not all, non-union employment and consumer contracts, and it's considered “forced” because few consumers or workers are aware that they are agreeing to mandatory arbitration when they sign such contracts. This requires them to resolve many types of alleged violations of state and federal laws through arbitration, including laws passed to protect against harmful and dangerous products, consumer fraud, employment discrimination, and other forms of wrongdoing. In our Feb. 15 webinar, co-hosted with the Workers' Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center, experts discussed how workers and historically marginalized communities are adversely impacted by forced arbitration. The Center for Progressive Reform's recent report on the topic served as a springboard for the discussion.

A tidal wave of corporate contract provisions has forced consumers and workers into arbitration. Millions are now subject to such “agreements.” Most are unaware that they have lost the right to file a case in court; even those who are aware likely have no choice but to accept a ban on going to court because so many corporations impose forced arbitration. Congress must end forced arbitration and restore the capacity of individuals and the courts to hold businesses accountable for illegal and irresponsible actions that disproportionally harm historically marginalized communities. Congress must also restore access to class action lawsuits, which is how historically marginalized communities can effectively hold corporations accountable for widespread discrimination and other harms. And Congress must restore the authority of federal judges to enforce laws protecting women and people of color from discrimination and workers from wage theft, to guarantee these laws provide the protections intended.

We at the Center for Progressive Reform applaud the U.S. Senate for clearing critical women’s safety legislation that would enable survivors of sexual assault and harassment to hold their abusers accountable in court. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House with broad bipartisan support earlier this week and now heads to President Biden’s desk. We eagerly await his signature.

The U.S. House of Representatives has taken an important step to repair our system of civil justice and advance equity and justice for all. On March 17, the House passed the Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal (FAIR) Act, which would block companies from forcing Americans to settle disputes in a rigged system of arbitration rather than in an impartial court of law. The act now heads to the U.S. Senate.