Even as OSHA ramps up its COVID-19 enforcement, employers’ attorneys say the more than 300 already filed pandemic citations are facing an extraordinary level of legal push-back, with appeals pending for almost half of the cases -- potentially teeing up pivotal rulings on the agency’s authority to require infection-control measures.
In the highest-profile enforcement action so far under OSHA’s new COVID-19 national emphasis program (NEP), the agency is proposing to levy $136,532 in penalties, the largest in a pandemic-related case, against a tax preparation firm it says barred employees from taking infection-control measures.
Unions and worker safety groups are praising President Joe Biden’s selection of California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) chief Doug Parker to lead the federal OSHA and are urging him to swiftly enact a COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS), which employers’ attorneys fear Parker could model on Cal/OSHA’s strict virus policy.
Worker safety groups are urging OSHA to issue “within the next few weeks” an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19, arguing the already-delayed rulemaking is urgently needed, following reports that new Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has directed the agency to update the ETS to reflect new research on the virus.
Former Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) Chairman James Sullivan says the Biden OSHA’s plan to step up enforcement, particularly on COVID-19 worker exposures, poses an “interesting” test for OSHRC and its precedent setting a high bar for the agency to sustain penalties in some enforcement cases.
A federal district court judge has dismissed a suit filed by Pennsylvania meat-packing plant workers that aimed to force OSHA to take action against their employer for inadequate protections against COVID-19, finding the OSH Act does not allow such suits unless an inspector makes a formal finding of “imminent danger” at the site.
Attorneys representing an employer industry coalition are pressing California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) to amend its controversial COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) to clarify and ease certain key provisions of the rules, while also tracking “cleanup” legislation in the state legislature to further address uncertainty over the ETS.
Employers’ attorneys see OSHA’s newly announced national emphasis program (NEP) for COVID-19 as a major shift in the agency’s approach to the pandemic that could drive an immediate rise in enforcement, even as OSHA continues to weigh issuing an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for the virus.
Employers are urging OSHA to use its impending emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19 to standardize the nationwide approach to pandemic protections, by formally overriding state-level ETS rules and executive orders that have created a patchwork of workplace safety requirements against the coronavirus.
OSHA is launching a new enforcement “emphasis” program to tackle COVID-19 workplace exposures, bolstered with $100 million in funding for the agency through the newly enacted stimulus law that will in part assist the enforcement effort, amid suggestions that OSHA might delay an emergency safety rule for the virus.