<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<regulation prefix="Regulation" num=".05" citation="COMAR 09.12.20.05" title_num="09" subtitle_num="12" chapter_num="20" heading="Protection of Employees Under §5-604 of the Act.">
  <paragraph num="A.">
    <text>Employee Rights. With regard to §5-604 of the Act, the exercise of “a right under this title” includes a right:</text>
    <paragraph num="(1)">
      <text>Explicitly provided in the Act, such as the right to participate as a party in an enforcement proceeding;</text>
    </paragraph>
    <paragraph num="(2)">
      <text>Which exists by necessary implication, including the right of an employee to:</text>
      <paragraph num="(a)">
        <text>Request information from the Commissioner, or</text>
      </paragraph>
      <paragraph num="(b)">
        <text>Be interviewed by an inspector in the course of an inspection or investigation.</text>
      </paragraph>
    </paragraph>
  </paragraph>
  <paragraph num="B.">
    <text>Refusal to Perform a Job. Although the Act affords an employee no general right to refuse to perform a job because of potential unsafe conditions at the workplace, the protections of §5-604 of the Act apply when:</text>
    <paragraph num="(1)">
      <text>An employee:</text>
      <paragraph num="(a)">
        <text>Is confronted with a choice between not performing an assigned task or being subjected to serious injury or death arising from a hazardous condition at the workplace,</text>
      </paragraph>
      <paragraph num="(b)">
        <text>Has no reasonable alternative, and</text>
      </paragraph>
      <paragraph num="(c)">
        <text>Refuses in good faith to expose himself or herself to the dangerous condition; and</text>
      </paragraph>
    </paragraph>
    <paragraph num="(2)">
      <text>The condition causing the employee's apprehension of death or injury is of such a nature that a reasonable individual, under the circumstances then confronting the employee, would conclude that:</text>
      <paragraph num="(a)">
        <text>There is a real danger of death or serious injury,</text>
      </paragraph>
      <paragraph num="(b)">
        <text>There is insufficient time, due to the urgency of the situation, to eliminate the danger through resort to regular MOSH statutory enforcement channels or to seek the assistance of another public agency which has responsibility in the field of safety and health, and</text>
      </paragraph>
      <paragraph num="(c)">
        <text>The employee, if possible, has sought correction of the dangerous conditions from the employer, and has been unable to obtain a correction.</text>
      </paragraph>
    </paragraph>
  </paragraph>
  <paragraph num="C.">
    <text>Other Refusals. Except in the circumstances detailed in §B(1) and (2) of this regulation, the protections of §5-604 of the Act generally do not apply when an employer disciplines an employee for refusing to perform normal job activities because of alleged safety or health hazards.</text>
  </paragraph>
  <paragraph num="D.">
    <text>Complaints. With regard to §5-604(b) of the Act, a “complaint under or related to this title” includes but is not limited to:</text>
    <paragraph num="(1)">
      <text>A request for inspection under §5-209;</text>
    </paragraph>
    <paragraph num="(2)">
      <text>Complaints regarding conditions at the workplace registered with the Commissioner, with a federal, State, or local agency with authority regarding occupational safety and health conditions, or with such an agency that the employee, in good faith, believes has authority regarding occupational safety and health conditions; and</text>
    </paragraph>
    <paragraph num="(3)">
      <text>Complaints regarding conditions at the workplace made in good faith to an employer, management supervisor, or other employee serving in a supervisory capacity.</text>
    </paragraph>
  </paragraph>
</regulation>