Litigation

ExxonMobil is arguing that OSHA’s defense in the company’s challenge to a citation for failing to properly record the mental health diagnosis of an employee does little to respond to the company’s legal claims and in fact only confirms the agency failed to meet due process and Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requirements.

The Labor Department (DOL) is asking the D.C. Circuit to reverse several decisions from the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) that rejected the DOL secretary’s changes to health and safety citations in enforcement settlements with mining companies, arguing FMSHRC overstepped its authority.

A recent landmark ruling from the 6th Circuit analyzing what constitutes “substantially the same” under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) opens the door for a future Democratic administration to issue new OSHA ergonomics rules after Congress killed a Clinton-era regulation in 2001, administrative law experts say.

West Virginia coal miners and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are continuing to spar over litigation challenging staffing cuts at a key federal workplace safety agency, with HHS renewing a motion to dismiss the case and the miners urging a federal court to again reject the department’s arguments.

The Labor Department (DOL) is arguing that a New Jersey steel company’s attempt to preserve constitutional and statutory claims against the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) “fails to establish actual success on the merits for any of its claims,” and therefore the case should be dismissed.

The Trump EPA’s recent 180-degree reversal on its initial plan to rescind the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out six uses of chrysotile asbestos and instead issue new worker protection guidance on the 2024 rule, came after Administrator Lee Zeldin overruled two other senior Trump EPA appointees, a source with knowledge of the internal matter says.

A coalition of labor unions, a nonprofit organization and a personal protective equipment manufacturer are pushing back on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) efforts to dismiss litigation over cuts to a federal worker safety agency, defending the members’ standing to bring the suit and the specific claims they make.

The Labor Department (DOL) is defending an OSHA citation that ExxonMobil failed to properly record the mental health diagnosis of an employee following a December 2021 explosion and fire at the company’s Baytown, TX, complex, telling a federal appeals court the agency’s actions are clearly supported by the OSH Act.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking to dismiss litigation brought by labor unions and Democratic states that aims to halt massive staffing cuts at a federal worker-safety agency, arguing the plaintiffs lack standing and the courts lack jurisdiction to hear the claims.

EPA is asking the 5th Circuit to grant another 90-day abeyance in legal challenges over the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of the common solvent perchloroethylene (PCE or perc) while it reconsiders workplace exposure limits in the rule, although EPA says it is “prepared to proceed” if the court denies its request.