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Adele Abrams, Esq., ASP,
CMSP, is Senior Counsel in the
Washington, DC, office of Liler
Mendelson PC, where she is part
of the firm's Occupational Safety
and Health group and leads the
national MSHA practice. Adele
provides OSHA/MSHA case
representation, training, and
consultative services on safety
and employment law.
She can be reached at
safetylawyer@gmail.com or
301-613-7498.
and conduct fewer programmed inspections
(including under its National Emphasis
Programs, such as the Warehousing
initiative, which impacts the pallet industry).
Finally, at the end of 2025, an interesting
piece of legislation was introduced in
the House Education and Workforce
Committee that forecasts the shape of
things to come. HR 6597 is the "Let's
Protect Workers Act" that is sponsored by
over 75 Democratic House members. So far,
there is no companion bill in the US Senate.
e legislation would specifically raise civil
penalties, and the maximum OSHA penalty
would increase to $800,000 for willful and
repeated citations and to $80,000 for less
serious violations (the current maximum
penalty is $166,000). e legislation also
strengthens whistleblower protections for
safety complaints and discrimination claims.
It is highly unlikely to receive any hearings
during 2026 unless somehow the House flips
control to the Democrats due to additional
deaths or resignations, and it has zero
chance of passage in the Senate—for now.
But 2026 elections are coming before we
know it, and this legislation—coupled with
the reintroduction of the Democratic OSHA
reform bill, the "Protecting America's
Workers Act" (HR 3036)—provides a
glimpse of what may occur if the predicted
Blue Wave occurs come November.
