Protecting America’s Workers Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Protecting America's Workers Act
This bill expands the coverage of requirements governing workplace safety and health to include protection for federal, state, and local government employees. However, the bill does not cover working conditions otherwise covered by federal requirements for mine safety and health.
The bill revises requirements governing worker protection, including by
expanding protections for whistle-blowers, such as protections for employees who refuse to perform work because they reasonably believe the work would result in serious injury or illness and for employees who aid inspections;
directing employers to furnish a hazard-free place of employment to all individuals performing work, not just employees;
directing employers to report work-related deaths or certain injuries, illnesses, or hospitalizations;
establishing rights for victims, or representatives of victims, with respect to inspections or investigations of work-related bodily injuries or deaths; and
setting the permitted period for employers to correct serious, willful, or repeated violations while citations for the violations are being contested.
The bill also revises enforcement and oversight of workplace safety, including by
increasing civil and criminal penalties for certain violations,
requiring the Department of Labor to investigate fatalities or significant incidents in the workplace,
expanding enforcement requirements relating to state occupational safety and health plans,
expanding requirements for workplace health hazard evaluations by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and
requiring Labor to provide training programs concerning employee rights and employer responsibilities.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on April 28, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on April 28, 2025: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Joe Courtney (D-CT) introduced it on April 28, 2025, and 39 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 39 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 28, 2025, 500 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 500 days ago, on April 28, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers