Dive Brief:
- Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, signed a package of bipartisan bills into law on Wednesday that increase fines for assaults on healthcare workers and medical volunteers.
- Starting next year, fines for assaulting healthcare workers in the state will double, ranging from $1,000 to $2,000 without a weapon to up to $4,000 for felony assault with a deadly weapon.
- The legislation comes as healthcare workers nationwide face increasing violence at work. They are five times more likely to suffer a workplace violence injury than workers overall, according to 2018 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dive Insight:
Workplace violence against healthcare workers is a growing concern. Injuries caused by workplace violence have risen nearly every year since the BLS began tracking the data in 2011.
Attacks can turn deadly. On average, 44 workplace homicides of private healthcare workers occurred every year 2016 through 2020, per the BLS.
In March, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, which creates rules to monitor workplace safety, began the process to create an enforceable standard on workplace violence against healthcare workers.
However, despite the rise in violence, federal legislation to protect healthcare workers has stalled.
Lawmakers have introduced the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees Act several times, but the bill has failed to advance. Most recently, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., re-introduced the bill in September, but it has since stalled again.
Absent federal solutions, some states have passed laws to enhance protections. Michigan joins at least three other states this year — Kansas, Florida and Georgia — in passing laws protecting healthcare workers.
Michigan’s new laws provides increased protections for healthcare workers by expanding the classification of protected workers, according to House Representative Mike Mueller, a Republican. The protected class already included police officers, firefighters and EMS personnel.
Facilities will also have to post notice of the enhanced fines.
“Unfortunately, health care workers face rising rates of bullying, viciousness, and violence,” Gov. Whitmer said in a statement. “These bills will protect health care workers and help Michiganders in the industry, as well as those who are considering a career in health care, know that the state of Michigan has their back.”
