In the wake of the devastating Los Angeles County fires, California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are emphasizing in new guidance that domestic workers are covered by agency labor code rules governing fire debris removal if they are helping to clean up properties impacted by the fire damage.
September 16, 2026
Legal experts are urging companies to ensure their nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) comply with a key federal whistleblower protection law, warning that failure to do so could result in additional charges or penalties in federal antitrust cases.
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Representatives of several community and employee-safety organizations are pressing California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to bolster standards and enforcement of rules to protect dairy and poultry workers from the bird flu strains that are spreading in the state.
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A tissue paper manufacturer is appealing to the 6th Circuit a ruling by an administrative law judge (ALJ) that upheld findings of workplace safety violations and monetary penalties following a 2022 accident at the company’s Ohio facility.
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The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has rescinded its controversial memo seeking to freeze a wide array of OSHA and other federal funds to review their consistency with Trump administration priorities after a federal judge temporarily stayed the measure.
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The Trump administration is delaying the effective date of the Biden EPA’s TSCA rule banning many uses of the industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) after two federal courts temporarily stalled the rule’s original Jan. 16 effective date, subjecting the rule to provisions of President Donald Trump’s order freezing pending regulations for review.
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For the first time, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has publicly released detailed results of its recent investigations into 26 serious chemical incidents at major industrial facilities, a move that one industry law firm says “creates significantly increased legal and operational risks that require immediate strategic attention.”
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Ahead of a key advisory committee meeting, employer and industry groups are stepping up complaints that California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials are inappropriately proposing to add a plethora of new requirements to an existing workplace violence-prevention standard, though agency staff maintain they are properly carrying out the law that required the rules.
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Studies conducted for the Agriculture Department (USDA) have found only a limited association between faster slaughterhouse line speeds and increased worker injuries, prompting USDA to extend current line speed waivers until the Trump administration can decide next steps.
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A California road district is urging a federal court to reject OSHA's argument that it lacks standing to challenge a controversial 2020 scaffolding safety policy, arguing that the agency's relaxed standards have caused delays, disputes and heightened safety concerns for federally funded projects.
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President Donald Trump has signed a series of executive orders (EOs) targeting federal employees at OSHA and other agencies, including measures stripping many workers of civil service protections, freezing new hiring, overhauling existing hiring practices and ending work-from-home allowances.
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The Biden EPA has released for public comment a draft scoping document that outlines its plans for what uses of -- and occupational exposures from -- vinyl chloride the agency’s TSCA evaluation will consider, although the incoming Trump administration will craft the evaluation and may have different ideas of how to do so.
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Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to again head the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is defending his plans for a dramatic overhaul of key federal budget, regulatory and workforce practices at OSHA and other agencies.
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OSHA is touting the Biden administration’s focus on increased enforcement as a key factor in a decrease in fatal occupational injuries in 2023, noting especially the administration’s focus on recognizing the disproportionate impact of work hazards on workers of color.
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Worker-safety advocacy groups are elevating their press on California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) officials to advance an indoor heat protection rule for prisoners and jail staff, as the national debate over heat standards becomes more focused on states due to the incoming Trump administration’s likely deprioritization of national heat standards.
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OSHA is dropping its plan to develop a final rule on occupational exposure to COVID-19 in healthcare setting, noting the lack of a public health emergency and saying any ongoing risk would be better addressed by a rulemaking addressing infectious diseases more broadly.
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The ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles County are prompting California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to alert employers to abide by worker-safety rules aimed at protecting employees from unhealthy air due to wildfire smoke, with fears rising that the threat could spread even farther.
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OSHA and EPA have released an agreement months in the making that outlines how the two agencies will share information and coordinate when EPA is reviewing workers’ safety in its TSCA existing chemical evaluations and enforcing risk management rules, while reiterating the two agencies’ unique authorities and responsibilities.
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North Dakota is suing the Department of Labor, claiming the federal agency breached the state’s sovereign immunity and violated the state’s constitutional rights by investigating a whistleblower complaint filed by a former state environment department employee.
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The Department of Labor (DOL) is announcing a 2.6 percent increase to the minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties for violations cited in 2025, reflecting an annual inflation adjustment that is less than the previous year and triggering a regulatory mandate for state plans to apply a matching adjustment to their own penalties.
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