GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2021
SESSION LAW 2021-82
SENATE BILL 208
AN ACT making various changes to the labor laws of north carolina.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.(a) G.S. 74‑24.2 reads as rewritten:
In this Article, unless the
context otherwise requires:The following
definitions apply in this Article:
(1) The term
"accident" means an Accident. – An unexpected event
resulting in injury to, illness of, or death of a person or persons as a result
of mining operations and any mine explosion, mine ignition, mine fire, mine
inundation, mine cave‑in, or other event which could have readily
resulted in serious physical harm.
(2) The term "Advisory Council" shall mean
the Advisory Council or body authorized to be established under this Article.
(3) The term
"agent" means any Agent. – Any person charged by the
operator with responsibility for the operation of all or part of a mine or
supervision of the miners in a mine, and for the purposes of this Article
includes contractors, subcontractors, or independent contractors employed by
the operator to perform any work or services at, in, or on the mine.
(4) The term
"Commissioner" means the Commissioner. – The Commissioner
of Labor of North Carolina.
(5) The term
"Director" means the Director. – The person authorized
under G.S. 74‑24.19 and appointed by the Commissioner for the
purpose of assisting in the administration of this Article.
(6) The term
"imminent danger" means the Imminent danger. – The existence
of any condition or practice in a mine which could reasonably be expected to
cause death or serious physical harm immediately to any miner if such condition
or practice is not abated at once.
(7) The term
"mine" means an Mine. – An area of land and all private
ways and roads appurtenant thereto, structures, facilities, machinery, tools,
equipment, shafts, slopes, tunnels, excavations, and other property, real or
personal, placed or constructed on, under, or above the surface of such land by
any person, used in, or to be used in, or resulting from (including the
reclamation of mined areas or the storage of materials in mined areas), or to
facilitate the work of exploring for, developing of, or extracting by any means
or method in such area all minerals, inorganic and organic, from their natural
deposits. The term "mine" also includes all mineral processing and
milling facilities except those used in the processing of source materials as
defined in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.
(8) The term
"miner" means any Miner. – Any individual, other than an
operator or an agent, working in or about a mine.
(9) The term
"operator" means an Operator. – An individual,
partnership, association, corporation, firm, subsidiary of a corporation, or
other organization owning, operating, leasing, controlling, or supervising a
mining operation.
(10) The term "repeated
violation" means a Repeated violation. – A violation for which
an operator was issued a notice or an order on an inspection and which is found
to exist again on the next regular inspection, even though the violation was
abated within the time fixed for abatement.
(11) The term
"State" means the State. – The State of North
Carolina."
SECTION 1.(b) G.S. 74‑24.4(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) The Commissioner
shall develop, adopt, revise, and promulgate safety and health standards for the
purpose of the protection of life, the promotion of safety and health, and the
prevention of "accidents" in mines which are subject to this Article.
In the development of safety and health standards, the Commissioner shall
consult with the Advisory Council, interested federal agencies,
appropriate representatives of other State agencies, appropriate
representatives of mine operators and miners, and other interested persons and
organizations whose participation would further the purposes of this Article."
SECTION 1.(c) G.S. 74‑24.6 is repealed.
SECTION 2. G.S. 95‑111.3(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) The term "amusement device" shall mean any mechanical or structural device or attraction that carries or conveys or permits persons to walk along, around or over a fixed or restricted route or course or within a defined area including the entrances and exits thereto, for the purpose of giving such persons amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement. This term shall not include any of the following:
(1) Devices operated on a river, lake, or any other natural body of water.
(2) Wavepools.
(3) Roller skating rinks.
(4) Ice skating rinks.
(5) Skateboard ramps or courses.
(6) Mechanical bulls.
(7) Buildings or concourses used in laser games.
(8) All‑terrain vehicles.
(9) Motorcycles.
(10) Bicycles.
(11) Mopeds.
(12) Rock walls that are in a fixed, permanent location.
(13) Zip‑lines.
(14) Funhouses, haunted houses, and similar walk‑through devices that are erected temporarily on a seasonal basis and do not have mechanical components.
(15) Playground equipment, including but not limited to soft contained play equipment, swings, seesaws, slides, stationary spring‑mounted animal features, jungle gyms, rider‑propelled merry‑go‑rounds, and trampolines.
(16) Any train or device previously or currently approved for use on the public rail transit system."
SECTION 3. G.S. 95‑133(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b) Subject to the general supervision of the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner, the Director shall be responsible for the administration and enforcement of all laws, rules and regulations which it is the duty of the Division to administer and enforce. The Director shall have the power, jurisdiction and authority to:
…
(13) Obtain relevant medical records. The Occupational Safety and Health Division is a health oversight agency as defined in 45 C.F.R. § 164.501, Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information. A covered entity, as defined by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, may disclose protected health information to health oversight agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Division, as necessary for law enforcement, judicial, and administrative purposes. The Commissioner or the Director, or their authorized agents, may obtain medical records of injured or deceased employees that are both directly related to the investigation being conducted and are necessary to conduct investigations and enforcement proceedings under this Article. The medical records to be obtained shall be restricted to the evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment of an employee injury or fatality. Such records shall only consist of those compiled and maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services, by hospitals participating in the statewide trauma system, or by emergency medical services providers in connection with the dispatch, response, treatment, or transport of individual patients. The medical records obtained by the Department shall be kept separate from any investigative file, shall be strictly confidential, are not public records within the meaning of G.S. 132‑1, and shall not be released to any employer under investigation except as necessary to support the issuance of a citation in an OSHANC enforcement proceeding."
SECTION 4.(a) Article 5B of Chapter 95 of the General Statutes is repealed.
SECTION 4.(b) G.S. 1‑539.12(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c) The provisions of
this section apply to any employee, agent, or other representative of the
current or former employer who is authorized to provide and who provides
information in accordance with the provisions of this section. For the purposes
of this section, "employer" also includes a job placement service but
does not include a private personnel service as defined in G.S. 95‑47.1
or a job listing service as defined in G.S. 95‑47.19 except as
provided hereinafter. The provisions of this section apply to a private
personnel service as defined in G.S, 95‑47.1 and a job listing service
as defined in G.S. 95‑47.19 G.S. 95‑47.1 only to
the extent that the service conveys information derived from credit reports,
court records, educational records, and information furnished to it by the
employee or prior employers and the service identifies the source of the
information."
SECTION 5. G.S. 95‑25.5(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) No youth under 18
years of age shall be employed by any employer in any occupation without a
youth employment certificate unless specifically exempted. The Commissioner of
Labor shall prescribe regulations for youths and employers concerning the
issuance, maintenance and revocation of certificates. Certificates will be
issued by the Commissioner, both directly and electronically.Commissioner."
SECTION 6. G.S. 95‑25.7 reads as rewritten:
"§ 95‑25.7. Payment to separated employees.
Employees whose employment is
discontinued for any reason shall be paid all wages due on or before the next
regular payday either through the regular pay channels or by trackable mail
if requested by the employee. employee in writing. Wages based on
bonuses, commissions or other forms of calculation shall be paid on the first
regular payday after the amount becomes calculable when a separation occurs.
Such wages may not be forfeited unless the employee has been notified in
accordance with G.S. 95‑25.13 of the employer's policy or practice
which results in forfeiture. Employees not so notified are not subject to such
loss or forfeiture."
SECTION 7. G.S. 95‑25.13 reads as rewritten:
"§ 95‑25.13. Notification, posting, and records.
Every employer shall:shall
do all of the following:
(1) Notify its employees, orally
or in writing at the time of hiring, of the promised wages and the day and
place for payment;payment.
(2) Make available to its
employees, in writing or through a posted notice maintained in a place
accessible to its employees, employment practices and policies with regard to
promised wages;wages.
(3) Notify employees, in writing
or through a posted notice maintained in a place accessible to its employees,
at least 24 hours writing, at least one pay period prior to any
changes in promised wages. Wages may be retroactively increased without the
prior notice required by this subsection; andsubsection.
(4) Furnish each employee with an itemized statement of deductions made from that employee's wages under G.S. 95‑25.8 for each pay period such deductions are made."
SECTION 8. G.S. 95‑25.23A(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) Any employer who
violates the provisions of G.S. 95‑25.15(b) or any regulation issued
pursuant to G.S. 95‑25.15(b), shall be subject to a civil penalty of
up to two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per employee with the maximum not to
exceed two thousand dollars ($2,000) per investigation violation by
the Commissioner or the Commissioner's authorized representative. In determining
the amount of the penalty, the Commissioner shall consider each of the
following:
(1) The appropriateness of the penalty for the size of the business of the employer charged.
(2) The gravity of the violation.
(3) Whether the violation involves an employee under 18 years of age.
The determination by the Commissioner shall be final, unless within 15 days after receipt of notice thereof by certified mail with return receipt, by signature confirmation as provided by the U.S. Postal Service, by a designated delivery service authorized pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7502(f)(2) with delivery receipt, or via hand delivery, the person charged with the violation takes exception to the determination, in which event final determination of the penalty shall be made in an administrative proceeding pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 150B and in a judicial proceeding pursuant to Article 4 of Chapter 150B."
SECTION 9. This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 30th day of June, 2021.
s/ Phil Berger
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
s/ Destin Hall
Presiding Officer of the House of Representatives
s/ Roy Cooper
Governor
Approved 12:33 p.m. this 8th day of July, 2021