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.
September 17, 2026
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Michigan has enacted the second binding set of state-issued workplace standards in the United States for COVID-19 after the state’s high court struck down Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) executive orders aimed at curbing the pandemic, with the new rule setting broad mandates for employers as well as sector-specific requirements.
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An attorney for labor unions suing over the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) line speed waiver program for swine slaughterhouses says the judge hearing the case appears poised to find that the rule is unlawful, but is giving no indication of whether she would vacate the policy or allow it to stay in force during a remand.
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The California Chamber of Commerce is warning its members the state’s newly enacted law mandating notices and other responses to workplace COVID-19 infections will be onerous and confusing to implement, while revealing that “cleanup” legislation is in the works to address what the group says are some of its most problematic provisions.
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Speakers at an Oct. 13 OSHA stakeholder meeting on its whistleblower program urged the agency to bolster outreach to employers and workers alike on how it operates, rework several of its rules on the subject and bolster its resources as complaints related to the COVID-19 pandemic continue to swell.
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Top Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee are attacking OSHA’s recent guidance on reporting worker hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 as a move to “eliminate, for all practical purposes” mandatory reporting of workplace infections, and demanding details on how the agency crafted the policy.
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The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is asking a federal district court to dismiss a suit from unions and a worker-safety group over its program that allows some poultry slaughterhouses to increase line speeds, arguing that they have shown no proof the higher speeds pose a “substantial” risk to workers.
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California lawmakers are urging the state OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to speed up its investigations of potential COVID-19 workplace safety violations, and to focus its efforts on the highly vulnerable sectors of health care, food processing, agriculture and warehousing.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new guidance finding potential for COVID-19 to spread through the air -- separate from the short-range droplets believed to be the virus’ primary mode of travel -- could force employers to update their infection-control measures in order to comply with OSHA standards.
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The collapse of bipartisan talks on COVID-19 relief and President Donald Trump’s vow not to field any new offers until after the election all but kills GOP plans to insert employee liability waivers in the bill and Democrats’ hopes of using the legislation as a vehicle to force OSHA to issue an emergency virus safety standard.
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