Two employer attorneys say an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) recent decision partly scrapping an OSHA citation based on whether a worker killed in a 2020 accident had been standing in a recognized “danger zone” underlines the burden the agency faces to show specific evidence of industry practice to support such claims.
United Airlines is asking the 7th Circuit to review an OSHA enforcement case where it has argued that its agreements with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and its staff union limit its duty to implement certain hazard-prevention requirements under the OSH Act -- a claim an administrative law judge (ALJ) rejected earlier this year.
A federal appellate court has for a second time denied the AFL-CIO’s petition to intervene in litigation over TSCA limits on methylene chloride to defend the rule against industry challenges, appearing to guarantee that no environmental or labor group will be able to step in if the next administration stops defending the case or seeks to settle it.
The California government district that owns and manages the Golden Gate Bridge is suing OSHA over a Trump-era guidance letter that loosened its safety standard for scaffolding, calling it an “illegal and unjustified attempt to reduce the factor of safety for temporary scaffolding designs,” that contradicts the regulatory text.
The AFL-CIO is again seeking approval to intervene in litigation over EPA’s TSCA rule for methylene chloride to defend the policy, saying the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has set a “quite low” bar for the step by granting a parallel bid from industry, even after it also denied the union’s first request earlier this month.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has set a quick schedule to reconsider its decision upholding a National Marine Fisheries Commission (NMFS) rule after the Supreme Court vacated the court’s 2022 holding when it overturned the longstanding Chevron deference doctrine, setting up an early test of how lower courts will apply the new precedent.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has approved a bid from the American Chemistry Council (ACC) to defend portions of EPA’s rule setting worker-protection and other mandates for use of the solvent methylene chloride while denying a parallel request from the AFL-CIO, giving the industry group an equal role with EPA in the case.
OSHA is asking a federal district court to dismiss employer and trade associations’ challenge to its controversial rule allowing employee representatives to participate in enforcement “walkarounds” outside of their own work sites, arguing that the plaintiffs have shown no concrete harm from the new policy in addition to defending its legality.
South Carolina is preparing to resume its challenge to OSHA’s mandate for state plans to match federal OSH Act penalty levels, after the Supreme Court eased the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) six-year deadline for suits against the federal government that the agency previously touted in a bid to dismiss the case.
House lawmakers are planning a hearing next week to evaluate their options in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overruling the longstanding Chevron deference doctrine, with some seeking to bolster Congress’ resources and oversight to provide more-detailed legislation though many conservatives are pushing deregulatory measures to limit ISHA and other agencies’ authorities.