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Washington, DC -- Today, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) voted to pass the bipartisan Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which included an amendment co-authored by Wexton and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to ensure no provisions of the bill are construed to limit existing laws related to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, or stalking.

The legislation would address workplace violence in health care and social service sectors by directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) to issue a standard requiring health care and social service employers to implement much-needed workplace violence prevention plans.

“Workplace violence is a growing issue for our health care and social service workers, especially for women,” said Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. “These individuals care for us when we need it most and have been through extraordinary challenges this past year due to COVID. It’s time we care for those caring for us and confront this crisis of violence. I’m proud that a bipartisan majority of my colleagues supported my amendment to ensure that the new prevention standards and protections we’ve passed today strengthen existing laws to keep workers safe. No one should be forced to endure violence in the workplace -- it’s not part of the job and it never should be.”

Workplace violence is a growing threat, especially for those working in health care and social service sectors and particularly for women workers. In 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that health care and social service workers were over four times as likely to suffer serious workplace violence injury than workers in other sectors. Currently, however, there is no enforceable federal OSHA standard that requires employers to adopt or implement a workplace violence prevention program. The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act would require employers in various health care and social service settings to develop a prevention plan that identifies risks, specifies solutions, and requires training, reporting, and incident investigations.

Wexton’s amendment was included in final passage of the bill with bipartisan support and ensures that the provisions in the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act do not limit or diminish existing federal state or local protections related to domestic violence, stalking, dating violence, or sexual assault.

The full text of Wexton’s amendment can be found here.

The full text of the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act can be found here.

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