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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For OSHA’s 50th anniversary, President-elect Joe Biden is renewing his pledge to quickly direct the agency to consider whether to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) that would mandate workplace COVID-19 protections for employees, while also vowing to ramp up OSHA’s enforcement efforts and staffing levels.