Congressman: Cintas Settlement 'Despicable' -settlement essentially a “pardon” granted by bush admin

[The Straight Story]

Congressman: Cintas Settlement 'Despicable'

Two prominent Democratic congress members say a $3 million settlement between Cintas Corp. and federal workplace safety regulators is insufficient because it downgrades the severity of the company’s violations and gives it two years to install new safety equipment.

The legislators describe the sudden settlement essentially as a “pardon” granted by the Bush Administration in its final days, and a cynical ploy by Mason-based Cintas to avoid facing potentially much harsher penalties under the incoming Obama Administration.

Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, and Congressman Phil Hare (D-Ill.), a subcommittee member, sharply criticized the settlement.

As first revealed by The Wall Street Journal, Cintas entered into a deal with the U.S. Labor Department to pay $3 million in penalties to settle six safety violation cases, including one that resulted in the death of a worker in an industrial dryer last year in Oklahoma.

Under the settlement, the agreement downgrades the severity of the 43 “willful” violations issued against Cintas since last spring. Willful violations are committed with “intentional disregard” for the law or “plain indifference” to worker safety, according to guidelines set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Now, the citations will be dubbed “unclassified.”

http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/blog-317-congressman-cintas-settlement-despicable.html