Attorneys are cautioning employers to maintain workplace COVID-19 protections including masking and social-distancing requirements despite states’ moves to loosen or drop their pandemic regulations, saying federal policy on the pandemic has become a “moving target” with enforcement still likely in response to larger outbreaks.
September 17, 2026
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear oral argument April 4 in labor groups’ bid to reinstate OSHA’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the healthcare sector, setting the stage for what could be a precedent-setting decision on whether the agency has authority -- or even a duty -- to extend such emergency regulations.
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OSHA has released a new regulatory interpretation letter outlining its test for when a worker's injuries in a traffic accident are considered “work-related” and subject to the agency’s recordkeeping and reporting requirements, warning employers that injuries sustained outside of a “normal commute” are recordable.
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Oregon’s worker safety agency has released its long-awaited proposal for a permanent heat illness prevention standard as part of a broader state effort to mitigate the impacts of climate change that also includes a workplace standard for wildfire smoke exposure, just as OSHA is conducting its own outreach for a nationwide heat stress rulemaking.
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Former Department of Labor (DOL) officials are urging a federal appeals court to reverse a district judge’s ruling limiting the circumstances where worker can sue OSHA for failing to take action on an “imminent danger,” saying the decision wrongly interprets the statute and could lead to “irremediable intra-Departmental conflicts.”
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is convening a three-judge “merits” panel to consider unions’ lawsuit seeking an order that would force OSHA to reinstate its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for healthcare workers and quickly release a permanent rule, in a potential sign that the court is taking the case seriously.
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A new federal circuit court ruling appears to set a more demanding standard for OSHA to show that an employer could “reasonably foresee” worker misconduct, in a decision that aims to clarify a “confusing patchwork” of precedent on where the burden of proof lies in cases dealing with the adequacy of an employer’s safety program.
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Workers at a Pennsylvania meat-packing plant are asking a federal appeals court to take up their potentially precedent-setting suit against OSHA over its failure to cite their employer for what they say were inadequate COVID-19 protections, arguing that the case remains relevant over a year after they first brought the claims.
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Worker safety advocates and Democratic state attorneys are pushing OSHA to adopt a broad, environmental-justice focused heat stress standard that would require employers to adopt dual environmental and physiological heat monitoring programs, comprehensive mitigation methods and new recordkeeping requirements.
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Katherine Lemos, chair of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), said at a recent meeting that she would delay votes on “the mounting number of recommendations” before the board until its two new members who won Senate confirmation in December are formally sworn in -- a step she said could come as soon as this week.
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Labor groups suing to reinstate OSHA’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the healthcare sector are claiming that the agency offered “no cognizable rationale” for allowing the rule to expire, ignored a key procedural step in that process, and bucked its own precedents when it dropped the ETS without a permanent standard to replace it.
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Manufacturing and food safety groups are urging OSHA to consider a narrow heat-illness prevention standard limited to outdoor work settings that provides employers “flexibility” to conduct individualized heat hazard assessments based on regional climate and worksite conditions, and in light of available monitoring technology.
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A chemical industry group says it expects OSHA to finalize an updated Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) as early as the fall but is warning that the rule as proposed could exacerbate current supply chain issues in part because its new requirements for data on risks posed by downstream chemical uses are “impossible to comply with.”
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OSHA is withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine emergency temporary standard (ETS) in light of the Supreme Court order blocking its implementation, but says it will continue developing a permanent standard using the emergency rule as a proposal, just days after it told a federal court it is prioritizing a long-term COVID-19 rule for healthcare workers.
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OSHA says it is renewing work on a permanent COVID-19 standard for the healthcare sector in light of the Supreme Court ruling that blocked its economy-wide vaccination rule, but warns that a final rule is still “six to nine months” away in a new legal filing opposing unions’ bid for a court order seeking a permanent standard within 30 days.
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Attorneys say the Supreme Court’s stay of OSHA’s COVID-19 vaccine standard both forces the agency to use the general duty clause as its primary tool to enforce pandemic safety measures, and creates new hurdles for those efforts -- though it could also open the door to a separate rule based on the emergency temporary standard (ETS) for healthcare workers.
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Labor groups and House Democrats are urging OSHA to issue a final rule based on its temporary COVID-19 vaccine standard but are split on how to approach that task, with some seeking comprehensive guidelines while others, including the lawmakers, favor a narrower rule that reflects the Supreme Court’s decision blocking the emergency standard.
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Environmentalists and work-safety groups are ramping up pressure on OSHA to expedite a heat exposure standard, including through a new study that says high heat conditions, exacerbated by climate change, could lead to as much as $55.4 billion in lost wages annually by 2065 without new workplace protections or greenhouse gas reductions.
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Observers say the Supreme Court decision blocking OSHA’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) could chill the future development of safety standards and ease challenges to its rulemakings, especially if the agency attempts to craft "holistic" policies for new dangers.
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OSHA is raising its civil penalties for violations of the OSH Act and regulatory standards by 6.2 percent to account for inflation -- the largest such adjustment in recent memory and one industry attorneys are warning could lead to an even sharper spike in total fines as the agency looks to step up enforcement action across the board.
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