
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 42USC300j-9]

 
                 TITLE 42--THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
 
                    CHAPTER 6A--PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
 
             SUBCHAPTER XII--SAFETY OF PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS
 
                       Part E--General Provisions
 
Sec. 300j-9. General provisions


(a) Regulations; delegation of functions

    (1) The Administrator is authorized to prescribe such regulations as 
are necessary or appropriate to carry out his functions under this 
subchapter.
    (2) The Administrator may delegate any of his functions under this 
subchapter (other than prescribing regulations) to any officer or 
employee of the Agency.

(b) Utilization of officers and employees of Federal agencies

    The Administrator, with the consent of the head of any other agency 
of the United States, may utilize such officers and employees of such 
agency as he deems necessary to assist him in carrying out the purposes 
of this subchapter.

(c) Assignment of Agency personnel to State or interstate agencies

    Upon the request of a State or interstate agency, the Administrator 
may assign personnel of the Agency to such State or interstate agency 
for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this subchapter.

(d) Payments of grants; adjustments; advances; reimbursement; 
        installments; conditions; eligibility for grants; ``nonprofit 
        agency or institution'' defined

    (1) The Administrator may make payments of grants under this 
subchapter (after necessary adjustment on account of previously made 
underpayments or overpayments) in advance or by way of reimbursement, 
and in such installments and on such conditions as he may determine.
    (2) Financial assistance may be made available in the form of grants 
only to individuals and nonprofit agencies or institutions. For purposes 
of this paragraph, the term ``nonprofit agency or institution'' means an 
agency or institution no part of the net earnings of which inure, or may 
lawfully inure, to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

(e) Labor standards

    The Administrator shall take such action as may be necessary to 
assure compliance with provisions of the Act of March 3, 1931 (known as 
the Davis-Bacon Act; 40 U.S.C. 276a--276a-5). The Secretary of Labor 
shall have, with respect to the labor standards specified in this 
subsection, the authority and functions set forth in Reorganization Plan 
Numbered 14 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3176; 64 Stat. 1267) and section 276c of 
title 40.

(f) Appearance and representation of Administrator through Attorney 
        General or attorney appointees

    The Administrator shall request the Attorney General to appear and 
represent him in any civil action instituted under this subchapter to 
which the Administrator is a party. Unless, within a reasonable time, 
the Attorney General notifies the Administrator that he will appear in 
such action, attorneys appointed by the Administrator shall appear and 
represent him.

(g) Authority of Administrator under other provisions unaffected

    The provisions of this subchapter shall not be construed as 
affecting any authority of the Administrator under part G of subchapter 
II of this chapter.

(h) Reports to Congressional committees; review by Office of Management 
        and Budget: submittal of comments to Congressional committees

    Not later than April 1 of each year, the Administrator shall submit 
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 
and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 
a report respecting the activities of the Agency under this subchapter 
and containing such recommendations for legislation as he considers 
necessary. The report of the Administrator under this subsection which 
is due not later than April 1, 1975, and each subsequent report of the 
Administrator under this subsection shall include a statement on the 
actual and anticipated cost to public water systems in each State of 
compliance with the requirements of this subchapter. The Office of 
Management and Budget may review any report required by this subsection 
before its submission to such committees of Congress, but the Office may 
not revise any such report, require any revision in any such report, or 
delay its submission beyond the day prescribed for its submission, and 
may submit to such committees of Congress its comments respecting any 
such report.

(i) Discrimination prohibition; filing of complaint; investigation; 
        orders of Secretary; notice and hearing; settlements; attorneys' 
        fees; judicial review; filing of petition; procedural 
        requirements; stay of orders; exclusiveness of remedy; civil 
        actions for enforcement of orders; appropriate relief; mandamus 
        proceedings; prohibition inapplicable to undirected but 
        deliberate violations

    (1) No employer may discharge any employee or otherwise discriminate 
against any employee with respect to his compensation, terms, 
conditions, or privileges of employment because the employee (or any 
person acting pursuant to a request of the employee) has--
        (A) commenced, caused to be commenced, or is about to commence 
    or cause to be commenced a proceeding under this subchapter or a 
    proceeding for the administration or enforcement of drinking water 
    regulations or underground injection control programs of a State,
        (B) testified or is about to testify in any such proceeding, or
        (C) assisted or participated or is about to assist or 
    participate in any manner in such a proceeding or in any other 
    action to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.

    (2)(A) Any employee who believes that he has been discharged or 
otherwise discriminated against by any person in violation of paragraph 
(1) may, within 30 days after such violation occurs, file (or have any 
person file on his behalf) a complaint with the Secretary of Labor 
(hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the ``Secretary'') 
alleging such discharge or discrimination. Upon receipt of such a 
complaint, the Secretary shall notify the person named in the complaint 
of the filing of the complaint.
    (B)(i) Upon receipt of a complaint filed under subparagraph (A), the 
Secretary shall conduct an investigation of the violation alleged in the 
complaint. Within 30 days of the receipt of such complaint, the 
Secretary shall complete such investigation and shall notify in writing 
the complainant (and any person acting in his behalf) and the person 
alleged to have committed such violation of the results of the 
investigation conducted pursuant to this subparagraph. Within 90 days of 
the receipt of such complaint the Secretary shall, unless the proceeding 
on the complaint is terminated by the Secretary on the basis of a 
settlement entered into by the Secretary and the person alleged to have 
committed such violation, issue an order either providing the relief 
prescribed by clause (ii) or denying the complaint. An order of the 
Secretary shall be made on the record after notice and opportunity for 
agency hearing. The Secretary may not enter into a settlement 
terminating a proceeding on a complaint without the participation and 
consent of the complainant.
    (ii) If in response to a complaint filed under subparagraph (A) the 
Secretary determines that a violation of paragraph (1) has occurred, the 
Secretary shall order (I) the person who committed such violation to 
take affirmative action to abate the violation, (II) such person to 
reinstate the complainant to his former position together with the 
compensation (including back pay), terms, conditions, and privileges of 
his employment, (III) compensatory damages, and (IV) where appropriate, 
exemplary damages. If such an order is issued, the Secretary, at the 
request of the complainant, shall assess against the person against whom 
the order is issued a sum equal to the aggregate amount of all costs and 
expenses (including attorneys' fees) reasonably incurred, as determined 
by the Secretary, by the complainant for, or in connection with, the 
bringing of the complaint upon which the order was issued.
    (3)(A) Any person adversely affected or aggrieved by an order issued 
under paragraph (2) may obtain review of the order in the United States 
Court of Appeals for the circuit in which the violation, with respect to 
which the order was issued, allegedly occurred. The petition for review 
must be filed within sixty days from the issuance of the Secretary's 
order. Review shall conform to chapter 7 of title 5. The commencement of 
proceedings under this subparagraph shall not, unless ordered by the 
court, operate as a stay of the Secretary's order.
    (B) An order of the Secretary with respect to which review could 
have been obtained under subparagraph (A) shall not be subject to 
judicial review in any criminal or other civil proceeding.
    (4) Whenever a person has failed to comply with an order issued 
under paragraph (2)(B), the Secretary shall file a civil action in the 
United States District Court for the district in which the violation was 
found to occur to enforce such order. In actions brought under this 
paragraph, the district courts shall have jurisdiction to grant all 
appropriate relief including, but not limited to, injunctive relief, 
compensatory, and exemplary damages.
    (5) Any nondiscretionary duty imposed by this section is enforceable 
in mandamus proceeding brought under section 1361 of title 28.
    (6) Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to any employee who, 
acting without direction from his employer (or the employer's agent), 
deliberately causes a violation of any requirement of this subchapter.

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title XIV, Sec. 1450, as added Pub. L. 93-523, 
Sec. 2(a), Dec. 16, 1974, 88 Stat. 1691; amended Pub. L. 98-620, title 
IV, Sec. 402(38), Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3360; Pub. L. 103-437, 
Sec. 15(a)(2), Nov. 2, 1994, 108 Stat. 4591.)

                       References in Text

    Act of March 3, 1931 (known as the Davis-Bacon Act; 40 U.S.C. 276a--
276a-5), referred to in subsec. (e), is act Mar. 3, 1931, ch. 411, 46 
Stat. 1494, as amended, which is classified generally to sections 276a 
to 276a-5 of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works. For 
complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note 
set out under section 276a of Title 40 and Tables.
    Reorganization Plan Numbered 14 of 1950 (15 F.R. 3176; 64 Stat. 
1267), referred to in subsec. (e), is set out in the Appendix to Title 
5, Government Organization and Employees.
    Part C of subchapter II of this chapter, referred to in subsec. (g), 
is classified to section 264 of this title.


                               Amendments

    1994--Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 103-437 substituted ``Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce of the House'' for ``Committee on Commerce of the 
Senate and the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of the 
House''.
    1984--Subsec. (i)(4). Pub. L. 98-620 struck out provision which 
required civil actions filed under par. (4) to be heard and decided 
expeditiously.

                         Change of Name

    Committee on Energy and Commerce of House of Representatives treated 
as referring to Committee on Commerce of House of Representatives by 
section 1(a) of Pub. L. 104-14, set out as a note preceding section 21 
of Title 2, The Congress.


                    Effective Date of 1984 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 98-620 not applicable to cases pending on Nov. 
8, 1984, see section 403 of Pub. L. 98-620, set out as an Effective Date 
note under section 1657 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.


                    Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

    Injunctions, see rule 65, Title 28, Appendix, Judiciary and Judicial 
Procedure.
    Writ of mandamus abolished in United States district courts, but 
relief available by appropriate action or motion, see rule 81.
