Occupational exposure to tuberculosis--OSHA. Proposed rule and notice of public hearing

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing a health standard, to be promulgated under section 6(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. 655, to control occupational exposure to tuberculosis (TB). TB is a communicable, potentially lethal disease that afflicts the most vulnerable members of our society: the poor, the sick, the aged, and the homeless. As many as 13 million U.S. adults are presently believed to be infected with TB; over time, more than 1 million of these individuals may develop active TB disease and transmit the infection to others. TB remains a major health problem with 22,813 active cases reported in the U.S. in 1995. A number of outbreaks of this disease have occurred among workers in health care settings, as well as other work settings, in recent years. To add to the seriousness of the problem, some of these outbreaks have involved the transmission of multidrug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which are often fatal. Although it is the responsibility of the U.S. Public Health Service to address the problem of tuberculosis in the general U.S. population, OSHA is solely responsible for protecting the health of workers exposed to TB as a result of their job. OSHA estimates that more than 5 million U.S. workers are exposed to TB in the course of their work: in hospitals, homeless shelters, nursing homes, and other work settings. Because active TB is endemic in many U.S. populations, including groups in both urban and rural areas, workers who come into contact with diseased individuals are at risk of contracting the disease themselves. The risk confronting these workers as a result of their contact with TB-infected individuals may be as high as 10 times the risk to the general population. Although the number of reported cases of active TB has slowly begun to decline after a resurgence between 1985-1992, 16 states reported an increase in the number of TB cases in 1995, compared with 1994. Based on a review of the data, OSHA has preliminarily concluded that workers in hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and certain other work settings are at significant risk of incurring TB infection while caring for their patients and clients or performing certain procedures. To reduce this occupational risk, OSHA is proposing a standard that would require employers to protect TB-exposed employees by means of infection prevention and control measures that have been demonstrated to be highly effective in reducing or eliminating job-related TB infections. These measures include the use of respirators when performing certain high hazard procedures on infectious individuals, procedures for the early identification and treatment of TB infection, isolation of individuals with infectious TB in rooms designed to protect those in the vicinity of the room from contact with the microorganisms causing TB, and medical follow-up for occupationally exposed workers who become infected. OSHA has preliminarily determined that the engineering, work practice, and administrative controls, respiratory protection, training, medical surveillance, and other provisions of the proposed standard are technologically and economically feasible for facilities in all affected industries.     

公共卫生法制的视角转换——基于控烟和肥胖防控等新兴公共卫生措施的讨论

一直以来,公共卫生以控制传染性疾病的蔓延为首要目的。相应地,公共卫生法制的工作重心和学术讨论,也主要集中于如何规范控制疾病传染过程中政府公权力的行使。而近年来全球范围内非传染性慢性疾病,例如糖尿病、肥胖和吸烟导致的各种心脏病和癌症等,逐渐取代传染性疾病,成为导致人类患病以及死亡的主要原因。为了应对客观情况的变化,公共卫生措施不断突破传统的法律边界,以继续发挥其保护和促进公众健康的作用。面对公共卫生措施的革新步伐,我们对公共卫生法制的思考也应该推陈出新。本文以控烟和肥胖防控等新兴的公共卫生措施为例,揭示传统法学理论视角的不足,并提供一个以社会正义为导向、群体为视角的法理框架。     

公司治理中职工参与制度探析

公司治理中的职工参与是我国建立现代企业制度的一个重要课题。在传统的公司治理理论中，股东是公司唯一的统治，公司的目标定位是股东利益的最大化。而职工参与作为现代公司治理结构的特点之一，在我国有着更为重要的现实意义。管理参与作为职工参与的方式之一，是社会主义市场经济的应有之义，我们不能听任其随着国有经济成分的下降而弱化；股权参与作为职工参与的所有权根据，是保障职工地位的更有效的制度保证，更有推行的迫切需要。     

新生代农民工犯罪生存空间之考察——以社会不公平竞争为视角

2010年2月1日,中央一号文件首次明确提出"新生代农民工"的概念,旨在当今现实条件下努力促进新生代农民工的市民化。改革开放至今,农民工已步入第二代,即"新生代农民工",他们在促进城市经济发展过程中发挥了重要作用,但新生代农民工犯罪问题也成了社会的顽疾。本文在研究这一群体特点、犯罪情况的基础上,从社会根源、社会原因以及个人因素等方面进行综合分析,在社会不公平竞争视角下对新生代农民工犯罪生存空间进行探索,研究不公平竞争与其犯罪的关联,以期发展三元协调促进的防控理论,并寻求消除不公平竞争机制,铲除新生代农民工犯罪土壤的对策。     

论劳动者的罢工权

在法律上承认和规范劳动者的罢工权,防止非法罢工,不仅有利于劳动者劳动权益的维护,也有利于社会的稳定。罢工权不是孤立的,劳动法领域中的罢工权,是劳动者的一项劳动权利,是劳动者集体劳动权的重要组成部分,与劳动者组织工会的权利（团结权）、集体谈判的权利密不可分。劳动者享有法律所保护的合法罢工权。罢工基于维护劳动者的合法权益,局限于劳动关系领域,并要符合法律规定的程序。在法律上确立劳动者享有合法的罢工权后,如何保护依法罢工的劳动者的利益是法律必须面对和解决的重要问题,也是关系到劳动者罢工权是否能真正享有的保障。为了维护劳动者的权益,法律应当赋予劳动者罢工权,但当罢工影响到社会公共秩序的时候,罢工权就应该受到限制。     

职务型传染病防治犯罪的立法问题研究

我国当前关于职务型传染病防治犯罪的刑法立法严重滞后,难以满足有效治理职务型传染病防治犯罪的需要,存在主体范围狭窄、行为类型单一、处罚不协调、罪刑阶梯简单等问题,急需改进.在改进职务型传染病防治犯罪的刑法立法时,应当坚持刑法的明确性原则、法益保护优先原则、预防为主原则和协调性原则.在这些原则指导下,职务型传染病防治犯罪刑...     

Autopsy Identification of Viable Mycobacterium Tuberculosis in the Lungs of a Markedly Decomposed Body

Various infectious diseases, including COVID-19, MERS, and tuberculosis, are global public health issues. Tuberculosis, which is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), is highly contagious and can be transmitted through inhalation of the bacteria. However, it has been assumed that the infectiousness of bacteria and viruses in dead bodies weakens as the time from death increases. In particular, there is little awareness of infection control measures concerning decomposed bodies or even the need for such measures. The deceased, in whom we discovered MTB 3 months following her death, was a woman in her 80s who died at home. We performed judicial autopsy, because police suspected homicide when her husband hanged himself. Obtained organs were used for microscopic examination by hematoxylin–eosin staining and Ziehl–Neelsen staining. In addition, real-time PCR and mycobacterial culture testing using Ogawa's medium were performed for the detection of MTB. We found that the MTB in the decomposed body remained viable and potentially infectious. To identify the bacterial strain further, we performed DNA-DNA hybridization and identified the strain as MTB complex. Potentially infectious live MTB survived in the dead body far longer than had been previously reported. Pathologists should consider microbial culture tests for all autopsied cases in which the decedent's medical history or macro-examination suggests possible infection, even when a long duration of time has passed since death. Pathologists and specialists who perform autopsies should recognize that all dead bodies are potentially infectious, including those in which long periods have elapsed since death.     

Co-evolution of politics and corporate governance

In the OECD countries, there exists a negative cross-country correlation between an economy's degree of employment protection and its degree of corporate ownership dispersion. One explanation is that employees’ political rights influence corporate governance: systems characterized by strong employees’ rights tend to be balanced by strong and concentrated owners. In this approach, the separation between ownership and control is only possible when unions and social democratic parties are sufficiently weak. In this paper we argue that causation runs also in the opposite direction (from strong concentrated ownership to strong employees’ protection) and leads to multiple equilibria characterized by alternative co-evolution paths of politics and corporate governance. To empirically assess our theoretical arguments we estimate a simultaneous equation model for workers rights’ protection and corporate ownership structure determination by three-stage least squares in a sample of 21 OECD countries. We conclude by arguing that the relative relevance of each flow of causation has important economic policy implications.     

Victim cooperation and the prosecution of domestic violence in a specialized court

We address the role of victim cooperation in the prosecution of domestic violence cases in a specialized court in Toronto, Canada. We first examine what factors predict whether a case will proceed to prosecution. We find that, even in a court designed to minimize reliance on victim cooperation through the use of other types of evidence, when prosecutors perceive a victim to be cooperative, the odds that a case will be prosecuted are seven times higher than if a victim is not perceived to be cooperative. In the second part of our analysis, where we seek to determine the correlates of victim cooperation, we find that the two most important determinants of victim cooperation are the availability of videotaped testimony and meetings between victims and victim/witness assistance workers. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research and policy.     

Justifications for Non-Consensual Medical Intervention: From Infectious Disease Control to Criminal Rehabilitation

A central tenet of medical ethics holds that it is permissible to perform a medical intervention on a competent individual only if that individual has given informed consent to the intervention. Yet it occasionally seems morally permissible to carry out non-consensual medical interventions on competent individuals for the purpose of infectious disease control (IDC). We describe two different moral frameworks that have been invoked in support of non-consensual IDC interventions and identify five desiderata that might be used to guide assessments of the moral permissibility of such interventions on either kind of fundamental justification. We then consider what these desiderata imply for the justifiability of carrying out non-consensual medical interventions that are designed to facilitate rehabilitation amongst serious criminal offenders. We argue that these desiderata suggest that a plausible case can be made in favor of such interventions.     

新冠疫情背景下妨害传染病防治罪的解释扩张及其回归

新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情中的法律规范适用带来新视角与新问题,在超越可容忍的社会相当性且有刑事可罚追究必要的场合,我国刑法中妨害传染病防治罪的规范适用值得关注。该罪的对象被限定为"甲类传染病",本次新冠肺炎被列为"乙类传染病",从而该罪存在适用上的瓶颈。司法解释的渐进扩张具有唤醒妨害传染病防治罪和注重公共卫生安全法益保护的一面,但是选取的方式难以与刑事法治相契合。为了更好地实现刑法参与社会治理的功能需求,应当对妨害传染病防治罪采取"立法类型化调整、司法解释适度限制"的组合路径,使刑法规范的社会适应性与刑罚处罚的有限性相融合。     

Hospitals’ Liabilities in Times of Pandemic: Recalibrating the Legal Obligation to Provide Personal Protective Equipment to Healthcare Workers

The Covid-19 pandemic has precipitated the global race for essential personal protective equipment in delivering critical patient care. This has created a dearth of personal protective equipment availability in some countries, which posed particular harm to frontline healthcare workers’ health and safety, with undesirable consequences to public health. Substantial discussions have been devoted to the imperative of providing adequate personal protective equipment to frontline healthcare workers. The specific legal obligations of hospitals towards healthcare workers in the pandemic context have so far escaped important scrutiny. This paper endeavours to examine this overlooked aspect in the light of legal actions brought by frontline healthcare workers against their employers arising from a shortage of personal protective equipment. By analysing the potential legal liabilities of hospitals, the paper sheds light on the interlinked attributes and factors in understanding hospitals’ obligations towards healthcare workers and how such duty can be justifiably recalibrated in times of pandemic.

     

The Legal Protection for China's Flexible Workers during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a chain of socioeconomic effects worldwide. China’s social and economic operations and labor market have also been suffered because of this global crisis. During hard times, flexible employment becomes an important means for stabilizing employment. However, the pandemic also exposed the problems ensuing from insufficient legal protection for flexible workers. First, there are some gaps and defects in the labor and social security laws in terms of their scope and applicability to flexible workers. Second, there were limitations in the support and protection policies for flexible workers at the early stages of the pandemic. Although the government implemented measures soon after the outbreak of COVID-19, their role is still constrained by the legal lacunae in protecting flexible workers. As flexible employment will continue to play a significant role in China’s labor market, the State Council issued a far-reaching official document in July 28, 2020 to support it. This document indicates the directions for providing better legal protection for flexible workers, which contains expanding the legal scope and enriching the legal protection. Based on the realities and latest policies, the legal protection for flexible workers should be systemically improved in the future.     

我国城乡一体化过程中的农民工养老保险制度探析

在我国城乡一体化进程中,逐步完善农民工养老保险制度是2020年全面建成小康社会的重要保障。本文概述了农民工的概念和基本特征,在分析国内外关于农民工养老保险制度研究的热点和难点的基础上,提出了完善农民工养老保险制度的建议。     

缺失与生成：农民工犯罪问题研究——社会资本理论视角的分析

农民工犯罪问题已日益引起社会的关注。以苏州工业园区农民工犯罪问题为蓝本,以社会资本理论为视角分析得出的结论是：社会纽带断裂、社会结构解体、公民参与不够、社会信任不足等导致的社会资本缺失,是引发农民工犯罪现状的不可忽视的重要社会因素。强化农民工与社会的纽带、稳定社会结构和构建社会信用体系,是增加社会资本存量、提高社会控制能力、减少和预防农民工犯罪的合理取向。     

Criminalizing Health-Related Behaviors Dangerous to Others? Disease Transmission, Transmission-Facilitation, and the Importance of Trust

Statutes criminalizing behavior that risks transmission of HIV/AIDS exemplify use of the criminal law against individuals who are victims of infectious disease. These statutes, despite their frequency, are misguided in terms of the goals of the criminal law and the public health aim of reducing overall burdens of disease, for at least three important reasons. First, they identify individual offenders for punishment, a paradigm that is misplaced in the most typical contexts of transmission of infectious disease and even for HIV/AIDS, despite claims of AIDS exceptionalism. Second, although there are examples of individuals who transmit infectious disease in a manner that fits the criminal law paradigm of identification of individual offenders for deterrence or retribution, these examples are limited and can be accommodated by existing criminal laws not devoted specifically to infectious disease. Third, and most importantly, the current criminal laws regarding HIV/AIDS, like many other criminal laws applied to infectious disease transmission, have been misguided in focusing on punishment of the diseased individual as a wrongful transmitter. Instead of individual offenders, activities that enhance the scale of disease transmission—behaviors that might be characterized as ‘transmission facilitation’—are a more appropriate target for the criminal law. Examples are trafficking in human beings (including sex trafficking, organ trafficking, and labor trafficking), suppression of information about the emergence of infection in circumstances in which there is a legally established obligation to disclose, and intentional or reckless activities to discourage disease treatment or prevention. Difficulties remain with justifications for criminalizing even these behaviors, however, most importantly the need for trust in reducing overall burdens of disease, problems in identifying individual responsible offenders, and potential misalignment between static criminal law and the changing nature of infectious disease.     

Exploring burnout in batterer intervention programs

This study used the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) to explore burnout in a sample of 115 batterer intervention program (BIP) workers (56% female, 44% male) from four midwestern states. The purpose of this study was to explore the role that demographic variables, job-setting variables, supervisor support, and personality characteristics played in predicting burnout for BIP workers. Significant associations emerged for all aspects of burnout. Job-setting variables and personality characteristics were predictive of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, whereas job-setting variables were predictive of personal accomplishment. The findings suggest that job and person variables are important factors to consider for burnout prevention and coping strategies for BIP workers. In addition, the results show that compared to MBI subscale norms for mental health workers, BIP workers fell in the moderate range for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, but in the high range for personal accomplishment.     

论我国农民工养老保险制度的构建与完善

农民工已成为我国产业工人的重要组成部分,他们为城市的繁荣和农村的发展做出了重大贡献。建立健全农民工养老保险制度,是构建和谐社会与社会主义新农村的基本条件,将对社会的稳定、经济的发展以及我国的城市化和工业化进程带来重大的影响。本文剖析了目前我国农民工养老保险制度中存在的主要问题,进而提出了相关措施,以期为建立和完善全国统筹的农民工养老保险体系尽绵薄之力。     

Occupational licensing and minorities

The costs of occupational licensing fall disproportionately on minorities and the poor. Licensing seeks to eliminate the lower-quality, lower-price services that low-income consumers would be more likely to select. Perhaps more important, however, is the impact on workers who are denied entry into the occupation. Recent evidence confirms that licensing regulations esclude less-educated and minority workers more than proportionally. The consequences for these excluded workers include unemployment or lower earnings—either by moving to a less-favored occupation or practicing without a license. The outcomes ofnonprofessional trades regulated by licensing are similar to those predicted by segmented labor market theory. Those who fail to obtain the credential (license) are denied access to the trade even if they are no less productive.