Citing OSHA’s refusal to develop an employer safety standard to protect against COVID-19 infections, Virginia’s health department is moving forward with the country’s first workplace rule to prevent or reduce infections in the workplace that could be a model for other states to use.
Employment lawyers expect an “explosion” of lawsuits over workplace exposures to COVID-19 in the coming months and are warning employers to closely follow guidance from OSHA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other agencies to either avoid such complaints or provide solid defenses against them.
A newly published study finds public accusations against employers that violate OSHA standards are significantly more effective at boosting compliance than the agency’s facility inspections alone, not only at those workplaces but also at nearby competitors, concluding that “regulation by shaming” should be a top priority for OSHA.
The Center for Progressive Reform (CPR), a think tank that advocates for “robust” health and safety rules, is floating an aggressive agenda for federal agencies and Congress to protect workers from COVID-19, including issuance of an emergency OSHA standard to prevent infections that the agency is refusing to issue.
The AFL-CIO is asking the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review a three-judge panel’s decision rejecting its bid to force OSHA to craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the panel judges “wholly failed to consider” several issues in their two-page ruling.
Chemical industry groups and other sectors are looking to Congress to reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chemical facility safety program before its looming July 23 expiration, although one industry source says it is unlikely that a reauthorization bill would include any proposed policy revisions to the program.
OSHA is ramping up release of several new guidance documents to aid employers in preventing COVID-19 infections as they reopen following states’ relaxation of limits on in-person gatherings and businesses, adding to the agency’s approach of using non-binding guides rather than binding rules to target the virus.
Legal firms are warning California employers that they could be targeted with tort litigation by workers who claim they contracted COVID-19 as a result of a company’s failure to properly carry out Cal/OSHA safety rules for the virus -- a potentially much greater financial risk for firms than an increase in worker compensation claims.
Democrats and pro-regulatory group Public Citizen are opposing Republicans’ push to waive liability for employers whose workers contract COVID-19 on the job, signaling what could be an intense political battle ahead as the Senate GOP has said the waivers will be a top priority for any future COVID-19 relief bill.
Congressional Democrats are backing a federal lawsuit by Amazon employees alleging that the online retailer failed to protect workers at a New York City warehouse from COVID-19 infections, setting up a test of companies’ duty to follow state safety mandates during the pandemic after OSHA declined to issue an emergency standard.
A federal appeals court has rejected trade unions’ bid to force OSHA to craft an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from COVID-19, holding that the agency’s decision to rely on existing rules and guidance deserves “considerable deference” because of the “unprecedented” nature of the current pandemic.
EPA’s science advisors are deepening their concerns over the narrow scope of the agency’s draft evaluation of asbestos raising questions during a June 8 meeting on why EPA excluded consumer uses and all but chrysotile fiber types from its evaluation, as well as over EPA’s decision to evaluate legacy uses separately.
OSHA is launching its next round of Susan Harwood Training Grants despite the Trump administration’s long-running efforts to defund the program, marking a win for defenders of the grants that support training and education for workers and employers on workplace safety and health hazards, responsibilities and rights.
Critics of President Donald Trump’s latest deregulatory executive order (EO) are questioning whether it will drive significant new agency rollbacks without encountering major legal problems, though supporters are highlighting another aspect that imposes a series of principles designed to ensure “fairness” in enforcement actions.
EPA science advisors are unable to agree on whether the agency appropriately chose to base its analysis of the risks of the common solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) on the chemical’s adverse immune system effects rather than its historical -- and more conservative -- focus on fetal heart defects.
Industry groups are clashing with labor and health organizations over how Cal/OSHA should revise its proposed permanent rules for protecting outdoor workers from wildfire smoke, with both sides citing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in their calls to either relax or tighten certain provisions of the regulations.
The AFL-CIO is defending its suit aiming to force OSHA to craft an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for protecting workers from COVID-19 infection, arguing that the agency’s preferred strategy that combines non-binding guidance with pre-existing authorities like the general duty clause “stands the OSH Act on its head."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected a suit challenging OSHA’s past decisions that extended existing safety standards to new industry sectors without formal rulemaking, issuing a ruling that upholds the agency’s worker eye-washing requirements for construction sites.
OSHA and industry groups are urging federal appellate judges to reject the AFL-CIO’s suit seeking a short deadline for the agency to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) protecting workers from COVID-19, arguing that existing rules already provide enforceable standards for employers to prevent workplace infections.
OSHA’s newly issued alert outlining steps employers can take to encourage social distancing in the workplace, including maintaining space between workers and isolating sick employees, could preview the agency’s forthcoming guidance for how businesses can safely reopen under loosened state pandemic orders.