GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1989 SESSION
CHAPTER 844
AN ACT TO INCREASE THE CIVIL PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS UNDER THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ACT OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 95-138(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) Any employer who
willfully or repeatedly violates the requirements of this Article, any
standard, rule or order promulgated pursuant to this Article, or regulations
prescribed pursuant to this Article, may upon the recommendation of the
Director to the Commissioner be assessed by the Commissioner a civil penalty of
not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) fourteen thousand
dollars ($14,000) for each violation. Any employer who has received a citation
for a serious violation of the requirements of this Article or any standard,
rule, or order promulgated under this Article or of any regulation prescribed
pursuant to this Article, shall be assessed by the Commissioner a civil penalty
of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) two thousand five hundred
dollars ($2,500) for each such violation. If the violation is adjudged not
to be of a serious nature, then the employer may be assessed a civil penalty of
up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) one thousand five hundred dollars
($1,500) for each such violation. Any employer who fails to correct a
violation for which a citation has been issued under this Article within the
period allowed for its correction (which period shall not begin to run until
the date of the final order of the Board in the case of any appeal proceedings
in this Article initiated by the employer in good faith and not solely for the
delay or avoidance of penalties), may be assessed a civil penalty of not more
than one thousand dollars ($1,000). Such assessment shall be made to apply to
each day during which such failure or violation continues. Any employer who
violates any of the posting requirements, as prescribed under the provision of
this Article, shall be assessed a civil penalty of not more than one thousand
dollars ($1,000) for such violation. The Commissioner upon recommendation of
the Director, or the Board in case of an appeal, shall have authority to assess
all civil penalties provided by this Article, giving due consideration to the appropriateness
of the penalty with respect to the size of the business of the employer being
charged, the gravity of the violation, the good faith of the employer and the
record of previous violations."
Sec. 2. This act shall become effective October 1, 1990.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 5th day of July, 1990.