A coalition of construction industry and other groups is broadening its suit over the Obama OSHA's worker injury and illness reporting rule, arguing that provisions for public disclosure of worker injury data change agency policy on confidential business information (CBI) without justification and violate companies' First Amendment rights.
Labor unions, environmentalists and other pro-regulation advocates are suing over President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) that requires agencies to balance each new rule they issue by identifying two existing rules for repeal, saying the mandate violates the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.
The White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) has issued guidance implementing President Donald Trump's regulatory review executive order (EO) that will tee up battles between OSHA and other agencies over how to offset the cost of new rules, by declaring that an agency can request cost-saving offsets from a separate agency.
President Donald Trump's recent executive order (EO) requiring federal agencies to eliminate two existing rules for every new one will force OSHA to stop issuing new rules not required under federal law, and likely prompt the agency to instead revisit existing regulations to ease compliance or issue guidance, an industry attorney says.
A federal judge is allowing an industry challenge to OSHA's 2013 memo interpreting federal law as allowing union officials to accompany agency inspectors onto non-unionized work sites to proceed, backing companies' procedural arguments that the memo changes existing policy, though the judge rejects an industry claim that the memo exceeds agency authority.
Congress appears poised to repeal the Obama administration's policy requiring federal agencies to consider worker safety and other labor law violations in procurement decisions just as the Justice Department (DOJ) is asking a federal court to delay litigation over the policy to give incoming Trump officials time to consider it.
Chemical and other manufacturers are hailing the recently introduced Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to undo EPA's rule revising its Risk Management Plan (RMP) facility safety program, which critics say encroaches on OSHA jurisdiction, though it is unclear whether GOP leaders will give the measure floor time.
Labor officials are arguing President Donald Trump's recent executive order (EO) requiring OSHA and other agencies to eliminate two existing rules for every new one, and the prospect he will back lawmakers' push to eliminate an Obama policy seeking to prevent federal contractors from violating labor laws, shows the new president failing workers.
Worker safety advocates are decrying Republican lawmakers' push to repeal the Obama administration policy requiring federal agencies to consider worker safety and other labor law violations in procurement, saying it is likely the start of “a sustained assault” by the GOP and the Trump administration on worker protections.
A worker advocacy group is urging the Senate to vigorously investigate the health and safety record of Andrew Puzder, the fast-food magnate President Donald Trump has nominated to head the Labor Department, arguing that Puzder fails to acknowledge the role of regulation in protecting workers, and hailing the Obama OSHA's record of strong enforcement.
Industry officials expect the Trump administration will prioritize for rollback anti-retaliation provisions of OSHA's worker injury and illness reporting rule, curtailing the rule through new guidance and limited enforcement, as well as an Obama-era policy allowing union officials to join OSHA inspectors at non-union sites, among others.
A top House Republican says lawmakers will likely target an Obama administration policy requiring consideration of safety and other labor law violations in federal procurement decisions as one of several regulations that lawmakers plan to repeal under the Congress Review Act (CRA).
An industry attorney is arguing that the Obama OSHA's granting of nursing and labor groups' petition for a federal standard for preventing workplace violence in the healthcare and social service sectors sought to give advocates a legal pathway to sue the agency to force a rule in the likely event that the Trump administration declines to pursue a standard.
Beryllium producers have filed a federal lawsuit challenging OSHA's recently-issued final rule strengthening limits for workers' exposure to the substance, and are arguing in meetings with agency staff that changes from a proposed version make the final regulation “unworkable,” and undermine an industry-union partnership that informed the rule.
Industry representatives are seeking to expand the reach of a Trump White House directive aimed at blocking agencies from implementing a host of OSHA and other health and safety rules issued in the waning months of the Obama administration, saying that regulatory milestones in some already-effective rules could also be targets.
As Obama administration officials left office, they asked federal courts in Texas and Washington, DC, to dismiss separate suits challenging OSHA rules setting new silica standards and anti-retaliation requirements ahead of the incoming Trump administration, which is expected to seek to roll the measures back.
OSHA is receiving conflicting comments on part of a proposed rule that seeks to expand when the agency's safety standard applies to power equipment that is shut off during repair work, with industry groups arguing the change fails to follow proper procedure and labor advocates charging it is needed to restore the intent of the rule and protect workers.
Nanomaterial producers are eyeing a strategy for challenging EPA's reporting rule that is expected to inform future EPA and OSHA policies governing their products, claiming that EPA failed to seek public input on certain information in the final rule, and that the Trump administration could scale it back if a federal court agrees that the new data should have been issued for comment.
OSHA has bolstered language in a recently-issued guide for protecting whistleblowers from employer retaliation after OSHA advisors faulted the agency's 2015 draft version, putting greater emphasis on assertions that company programs for preventing retaliation against employees who raise safety concerns benefit employers.
A recent federal appeals court decision backing industry arguments that OSHA is limited to a six-month statute of limitations for issuing certain citations could prompt EPA to take on a greater role in enforcing industrial facility process safety, usurping OSHA's traditional lead role in such enforcement and increasing fines, an industry attorney says.