Sec. 601. Supports for disaster recovery workers
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Entities receiving grants in section 302 to support the training of disaster recovery and rebuilding workers must ensure that such training includes the following components, as the Secretary determines relevant to such workers: Ten-hour training provided by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Basic health and safety training on mold exposure, lead paint, asbestos and heat exposure. Basic first aid and CPR, following the American Red Cross model. Training with respect to preservation of mental health, including self-care.
Basic workplace rights. Any other training that the Secretary determines appropriate to the circumstances of climate-related disasters. Skill-based training focused on community recovery and rebuilding after disasters must include training on rebuilding techniques that increase community resilience. Training must be: Accessible to various levels of literacy. Provided in languages other than English, as relevant to the population of individuals seeking training. Available during evenings and weekends.
Grant funds under section 302 to benefit climate resilience workers may be used for the following purposes: To operate worker hiring halls with set wages and working conditions. To cover workers compensation, unemployment, health insurance and bonding with respect to workers hired through hiring halls to incentivize employers to come to and use the hiring halls. Grantees may create virtual hiring halls for areas where brick and mortar hiring halls are not available or feasible.
All rights and procedures under the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 151 et seq. ) shall apply to all workers employed using funds in this section in the private sector. All rights under the title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 shall apply to all workers employed by the Federal Government. The rights to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection under section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act ( 29 U.S.C. 157 ) shall apply with respect to an employee who is employed by an employer who receives funds under this Act and who is seeking to form or is otherwise engaged with a worker association.
There is established in the Treasury of the United States a Climate Resilience Worker Health and Safety Fund (in this section, referred to as the ‘Fund’), which consists of sums that are appropriated to the Fund under this section. Amounts in the fund shall be available— for the benefit of resilience workers with short and long-term health problems related to their service in climate disaster response, recovery, and rebuilding; and for wage replacement for workers should they be unable to work due to health problems related to their service.
The Secretary shall impose a per-employee fee on every employer. Funds received under this clause shall be deposited into the Fund. Not later than 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue guidance, in consultation from the Center for the Climate Resilience Workforce, specifying the fee amount, frequency and mechanism for collection. The fee must be sufficient enough to cover the potential expenses climate disaster recovery workers may incur.
The Chair of the Climate Resilience Workers Commission shall establish a Climate Resilience Worker Safety Committee program (in this paragraph referred to as the program ) within the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Labor. In carrying out the program, the Chair shall support safety committees in each labor market where climate disaster recovery workers are employed. The purpose of the committees shall be to ensure the on-the-ground safety of workers engaged in disaster recovery and rebuilding work while at their work sites.
The Committees shall— review and make recommendations pertaining to safety training provided by local training providers; and stop work when work conditions are unsafe. The members of the safety committees will be elected by resilience workers in the labor market. A Chair for each safety committee shall be elected by committee members. Such chair shall be the primary point of contact for the regional office of the Department of Labor. The safety committee shall report any violations of minimum labor standards laid out in this Act to a regional office of the Department of Labor, which may conduct an investigation and take enforcement actions using the existing authorities of the Secretary.
A regional office may elevate violations to the Commission for further enforcement as needed. The term labor market means a disaster recovery area as designated in a Federal major disaster declaration. The employer and with the general contractor shall be liable for all health problems caused in whole or in part by participation in climate disaster response and recovery for all employees employed using funds under this section. An employer receiving funds under this section shall ensure that workers receive annual wellness checks at community health clinics or federally qualified health centers specific to the conditions under which they have been working.
Such employer shall cover the full cost of such wellness checks. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Director $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, and each fiscal year thereafter, for the Susan G. Harwood Occupational Safety and Health grant program, of which not less than $10,000,000 each fiscal year shall be used to support training of workers engaged in disaster recovery and rebuilding work.
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