President Joe Biden’s choice of a former Labor Department policy official for a top role at the influential White House office charged with reviewing agencies’ regulatory actions could ease approval for strict OSHA regulations, including a workplace COVID-19 standard, as part of a broader shift in how officials conduct those reviews.
September 17, 2026
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling for OSHA to tighten its response to COVID-19, especially its oversight and tracking of regional enforcement actions related to the pandemic -- recommendations Trump-era officials rejected but which the agency could revisit under the Biden administration.
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OSHA has released a broad new guide for employers to mitigate COVID-19 infection risks in the workplace, its first step toward tightening Trump-era policies for the pandemic following President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring the agency to update its guidance while considering an emergency temporary standard (ETS).
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California Attorney General (AG) Xavier Becerra (D) is launching a new section within his division of public rights that will in part bolster enforcement of worker health and safety rules, including of the controversial new Cal/OSHA emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from COVID-19.
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Attorneys representing employers expect OSHA to quickly implement President Joe Biden’s agenda for the agency including aggressive enforcement and a new COVID-19 standard, but several pending lawsuits and enforcement challenges could end up curtailing its authority regardless.
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Former Trump OSHA acting chief Loren Sweatt is downplaying President Joe Biden’s executive order directing the agency to bolster its COVID-19 response and potentially craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the virus, saying the order mostly maintains OSHA’s approach from her tenure and that an ETS is unlikely to succeed.
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Employer attorneys are warning that problems hampering California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) enforcement and appeals board units are likely to continue under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) proposed fiscal year 2021-22 budget, which barely increases the agency’s funding over last year.
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President Joe Biden is poised to nominate California Labor Secretary Julie Su as Deputy Secretary of Labor, deepening the administration’s ties to the Golden State just as OSHA is weighing whether to base its expected COVID-19 workplace safety standard on California’s policy for the virus.
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Labor unions and worker safety groups are welcoming President-elect Joe Biden’s first appointees to OSHA as a sign that the agency will move quickly on the new administration’s priority agenda for pandemic response, enforcement and a host of other issues, even before Biden names a permanent OSHA head.
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President Joe Biden is ordering OSHA to act by March 15 on a potential emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19 that could include a mask mandate for workplaces, confirming expectations he would seek an imminent rule as part of a sweeping pandemic plan that also aims to bolster the agency’s enforcement and guidance.
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President Joe Biden is poised to step up OSHA’s enforcement program, with employers bracing for heavier penalties and additional inspections including but not limited to cases involving the COVID-19 pandemic, just as the agency is finalizing an action to raise its statutory maximum penalties for enforcement actions in 2021.
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President-elect Joe Biden’s planned COVID-19 stimulus bill would allow OSHA to extend its expected emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the virus to industries the agency does not currently regulate, including several categories of government work, alongside boosts to OSHA’s enforcement and training budgets.
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Attorneys representing employers say President-elect Joe Biden could return Obama-era OSHA chief David Michaels to the agency on a short-term basis to lead its COVID-19 response, including possible development of an emergency temporary standard (ETS), ahead of Biden nominating a permanent OSHA secretary.
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California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is further clarifying its recently adopted COVID-19 worker safety emergency temporary standard (ETS) for a variety of issues and situations, amid ongoing opposition from hundreds of employer and industry groups that are urging state leaders to delay enforcement of the rules and provide related relief.
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OSHA is agreeing to strengthen its involvement in EPA’s program for reviewing new chemicals’ potential hazards before they enter the marketplace, but the new memorandum of understanding (MOU) seems to exclude evaluations of existing chemicals even though EPA has faced calls to boost its consideration of worker safety in its risk reviews.
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A federal district judge has rejected a lawsuit by public health groups and Democratic states aimed at reversing OSHA’s rollback of an Obama-era rule setting electronic reporting and recordkeeping mandates for employers, ruling that the reversal was within regulators’ discretion and that the groups lacked standing to sue.
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A federal appellate court is slated to hear arguments in March in the long-running suits brought by industry, labor and environmental groups seeking to reverse EPA’s first-time TSCA rule banning consumer uses of paint strippers containing methylene chloride, marking an early legal marker for how the Biden administration may address such rules.
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Local unions are welcoming President-elect Joe Biden’s selection of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Labor Secretary, praising Walsh both for his overall stance on worker safety and his administration’s imposition of comprehensive workplace protections from COVID-19 -- previewing a top priority for the Biden OSHA.
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President-elect Joe Biden has selected Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D), a former president of the city’s building union, as his nominee for Secretary of Labor, following through on campaign promises to give unions a strong voice in labor policy and putting Walsh in charge of an expected push to ramp up OSHA’s enforcement efforts.
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A coalition of agriculture industry groups is suing the California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) in a bid to overturn the state’s recently adopted COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for workplace safety, charging the new rules exceed the agency’s authority and threaten to cripple food production and distribution chains.
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