One key rule survives – and it could catch employers off guard
Nebraska repeals key workplace safety provisions for public employers and terminates a state consultation program fund.
The Nebraska Legislature has passed LB 397, a bill that dismantles portions of the state's workplace safety framework and terminates funding for a workplace safety consultation program. Introduced by Senator Moser of District 22, the bill was passed during the Second Session of the One Hundred Ninth Legislature in 2026.
At its core, LB 397 does two things that HR professionals at Nebraska public employers need to pay attention to. First, it outright repeals sections 48-444 and 48-445 of the Reissue Revised Statutes of Nebraska, which related to safety committees and a safety program. Second, it terminates the Workplace Safety Consultation Program Cash Fund, directing the State Treasurer to transfer any remaining money in the fund to the General Fund.
The bill does not wipe out all safety obligations. Under the amended Section 48-443, public employers covered by the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act still have to set up a safety committee and keep an effective written injury prevention program in place. For unionized workplaces, the committee can be formed through collective bargaining. For non-union employers, the committee must include equal numbers of employee and employer representatives, and the employer cannot handpick the employee members. Those members must be chosen through procedures prescribed in rules and regulations adopted and promulgated by the Commissioner of Labor.
The cost of maintaining and operating the safety committee must be minimal to the public employer. Public employers are also still required to compensate employee members of the safety committee at their regular hourly wage plus their regular benefits for time spent attending meetings or carrying out committee duties.
One provision that HR departments should keep front and center is the anti-retaliation rule, which survives the bill untouched. Employees who make any oral or written complaint to the safety committee or to any governmental agency with regulatory responsibility for occupational safety and health cannot be discharged or discriminated against for doing so. Any employee who is discharged or discriminated against on that basis is entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits caused by the employer's action. That protection remains fully in force even as the surrounding safety infrastructure gets trimmed.
On the insurance side, LB 397 also amends parts of the workers' compensation system. It amends Section 44-3,158, which governs coverage for assigned risk employers – Nebraska employers that are in good faith entitled to, but unable to obtain, workers' compensation insurance through ordinary methods. The section sets out conditions under which an employer is disqualified from assigned risk coverage, including being in default on premiums, failing to reimburse an insurer for deductible amounts, failing to provide reasonable access to books and records for a premium audit, committing fraud against an insurer, or being owned or controlled by persons who controlled a previously ineligible employer.
The bill also amends Section 48-144.03, which governs cancellation and nonrenewal notice rules for workers' compensation policies. Insurers must give 30 days' written notice to the compensation court and the employer before cancellation takes effect, though that window shrinks to 10 days in cases of employer-initiated cancellation, nonpayment of premium, or failure to reimburse deductible losses. Similar rules apply to master policies and multiple coordinated policies obtained by professional employer organizations.
For HR leaders at Nebraska public employers, the practical takeaway is clear. The state is stepping back from certain safety programming requirements, but the obligation to maintain a safety committee and an injury prevention program has not gone away. Neither has the exposure that comes with mishandling a safety complaint. HR teams should assess whether the termination of the consultation program fund affects any safety resources they currently use.
