Environmentalists are urging Virginia and Pennsylvania leaders to adopt state-level heat standards, pointing to record-level heat illness incidents in 2025 and the uncertainty of when, or if, OSHA will set a federal standard -- a message that could gain new traction in Virginia if Democrat Abigail Spanberger is elected governor on Nov. 4.
November 15, 2026
A federal district court judge has granted OSHA’s request to dismiss North Dakota’s suit challenging an agency investigation into alleged whistleblower retaliation by the state’s environment department, finding that all of the state’s claims that the investigation violated North Dakota’s sovereign immunity fail.
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Labor unions and occupational health experts are urging OSHA to withdraw a proposed rule that would narrow the agency’s interpretation of the General Duty Clause to exclude certain activities from enforcement, saying the proposal violates the agency’s statutory mandate and is based on faulty legal reasoning.
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Worker rights advocates are opposing a trio of related Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) proposals that would narrow district managers’ authority to require additional safety measures at coal mines, arguing MSHA has failed to demonstrate the proposals are necessary and would not harm miners.
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Employers are closely watching a pair of related cases awaiting rulings from the 10th Circuit that could temper OSHA’s ability to issue citations under the General Duty Clause for workplace violence by imposing stricter requirements on the agency’s burden of proof, legal experts say.
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A mining industry group is warning that a “fully functional” National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is vital to ensuring the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) can achieve the goals of its proposal to ease the process for using certain respirators in mines.
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The National Construction Policy Institute (NCPI) is outlining legislative and regulatory changes it says are necessary to create a “fair, predictable, and legally defensible” framework for OSHA’s controversial multi-employer citation policy, arguing the agency’s current approach is “unsustainable.”
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A pair of recent court rulings has created procedural and constitutional uncertainty over the way OSHA adjudicates the majority of its whistleblower complaint docket, leading to possible inconsistent outcomes across cases in the short term and the potential for judicial and legislative changes to the process in the long term, legal experts say.
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South Carolina is urging the 4th Circuit to reinstate its litigation challenging OSHA’s requirement that states match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, arguing a lower court erred in finding South Carolina’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA) claims were time-barred.
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The Senate’s confirmation earlier this month of Jonathan Snare to serve on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) restores its ability to review administrative law judge (ALJ) decisions, although OSHRC still lacks a quorum to make decisions on cases sent for review.
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