Criminal prosecutions under OSHA?

Employers don't usually think about being prosecuted for violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Mike Lied observes in the latest issue of ISBA's Labor and Employment Law newsletter. "However, Section 17(e) of the Act [criminally] punishes any employer convicted of willfully violating any standard, rule, order or regulation prescribed pursuant to the Act, if that violation caused an employee’s death," he writes. He goes on to describe an Illinois-based case in which the "employer escaped, for the time being, liability for a willful violation, based on faulty jury instructions." Read more.