The California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) standards board is poised to adopt an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from COVID-19 amid 11th-hour calls by employer and industry groups to ease some requirements, and as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is ratcheting up restrictions on the public and businesses in response to soaring infections.
The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is revising its rules governing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the office, including adding more opportunities to “toll” the deadline for a response, and changing how it handles unpaid fees.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is readying a proposal that would codify its waiver program allowing poultry slaughterhouses to raise their maximum line speeds, setting the stage for the latest step in a long-running clash between the Trump administration and worker groups over the safety implications of higher speeds.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is among the contenders voicing interest in becoming labor secretary as President-elect Joe Biden begins to assemble his Cabinet, but industry and employer associations are warning Democrats that any nominee viewed as too far left could struggle to win confirmation in a closely divided Senate.
President-elect Joe Biden’s Department of Labor (DOL) transition team includes several Obama administration veterans along with union figures and California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) chief Doug Parker, bolstering predictions that OSHA will quickly return to Obama-era worker safety rulemaking priorities next year.
Attorneys representing employers are warning their clients to prepare for a rapid increase in OSHA enforcement and regulation as part of a broader realignment of the Department of Labor expected under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration following Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
President-Elect Joe Biden’s defeat of President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election sets up a quick reversal of several Trump OSHA policies including the agency’s decision not to craft an enforceable COVID-19 safety standard, along with likely moves to bolster its enforcement program and revive Obama-era rulemaking efforts.
OSHA has issued new guidance on how to use workplace ventilation systems to reduce exposures to the coronavirus, including efficiency targets for air filters and recommendations for fan use -- potentially adding specificity not only to its own policies but also to state ventilation mandates that have been criticized as too vague.
Employers’ attorneys are raising “numerous potential concerns” with California’s expected COVID-19 workplace safety standard, previewing potential comments they could file on companies’ behalf once the state releases a formal proposal, or issues they could argue in future litigation over a final rule.
A federal district judge has rejected Amazon workers’ suit over alleged violations of New York COVID-19 protections at a warehouse in the state, holding that OSHA has “primary jurisdiction” over the issue in a decision that underscores states’ limited authority to enforce more-stringent protections than the federal government.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is tasking several state agencies with enforcing new COVID-19 workplace-safety mandates, a response to OSHA’s refusal to craft a binding standard for the virus and a model for other states that lack delegated OSH Act worker safety program authority to nonetheless enact binding pandemic rules.
OSHA has issued new COVID-19 guidance for long-term care workers that outlines protective steps employers should take in order to avoid enforcement under the agency’s respiratory protection standard, the latest example of the agency’s use of existing rules and sector-specific guides to shape firms’ responses to the pandemic.
Unions plan to urge Democratic nominee Joe Biden to quickly strengthen OSHA’s enforcement program if he wins the Nov. 3 presidential election by arguing that it would be the most effective way to boost worker safety, while bracing for “an all-out assault on worker protections” if President Donald Trump wins re-election.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is reportedly pushing to head the Department of Labor (DOL) in a potential Biden administration, a role he could use to implement key provisions of his campaign platform from the Democratic presidential primary including a “workers bill of rights” that aims to improve workplace safety.
A federal appeals court is backing OSHA’s argument that its process safety management (PSM) standard covers not just equipment that contains high hazard chemicals (HHCs) but anything “connected” to those devices such as boilers, rejecting an Oklahoma refinery’s argument that the rule is ambiguous and should be read narrowly.
Employers’ attorneys are expecting the COVID-19 pandemic to remain OSHA’s top issue regardless of how the Nov. 3 presidential election ends, but are weighing the potential for a shift in the agency’s approach if Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins and orders the creation of an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the virus.
The Department of Labor (DOL) is curtailing OSHA and other agencies’ public announcements of enforcement actions, directing them not to publicize violations or fines until a case is resolved in court, despite findings that press releases are more effective than inspections at deterring future violations.
California Chamber of Commerce representatives are raising concerns over the state OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) plan to adopt next month an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19, charging that regulators will release the proposed text of the rule for public review only five days before the standards board votes on it.
Employer liability remains a major unresolved issue in the ongoing talks between Democrats, Republicans and the White House over a potential new COVID-19 stimulus bill, with many in the GOP caucus demanding its inclusion in such a bill despite long-running Democratic opposition to any such waiver for companies.
OSHA has issued guidance aimed at boosting use of N95 respirator masks to limit the spread of COVID-19, an effort to combat what it says is unfounded controversy over whether the masks and other face coverings provide adequate protections from the virus and reinforcing what some attorneys say is effectively a mandate to use them.