Enforcement

A divided National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is proposing a rule that would raise the bar for determining when contractors, franchisers and other entities are considered “joint employers,” opening the door to subjecting them to workplace safety and other requirements, arguing the rule will clarify existing confusion.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) is seeking public input on a variety of possible changes to its rules of procedure, including broadening the definition of an “affected employee,” which labor groups have long sought and that could expand the scope of cases stemming from multi-employer job sites.

An industry attorney says that an administrative law judge's (ALJ) recent ruling highlights liability concerns that staffing agencies face if deemed “exposing employers” under OSHA's multi-employer enforcement policy, a focus of Obama-era enforcement that agency staff has not shown signs of backing off of during the Trump administration.

An industry attorney is seeking an employer who could act as a plaintiff in a potential lawsuit challenging what the attorney describes as OSHA's practice of "shaming" employers in enforcement press releases as unconstitutional, arguing that the Trump administration has failed to soften critical language in the announcements that harm employers even in cases where allegations are reduced or rescinded.

A former senior OSHA official is faulting a softening in tone in the agency's announcements of workplace safety violations, arguing that strong language is necessary to maximize the deterrent effect of OSHA enforcement actions, though industry attorneys long opposed the Obama-era press release policy as unnecessary “regulation by shaming."

The Omaha area OSHA office is no longer investigating a May grain elevator explosion that led to the death of an employee after determining that the farm is not subject to OSHA enforcement under a longstanding 1970s-era congressional policy rider that limits the agency's jurisdiction over farms with 10 or fewer employees.

Employers are facing a July 1 deadline for submitting to OSHA 2017 data summarizing their workers' injuries and illnesses under an Obama-era electronic reporting rule that has faced significant implementation hurdles, and that the Trump administration has already moved to revise.

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) in a new report is faulting OSHA for scaling back enforcement in the first years of the Trump administration, arguing that enforcement is continuing to decline at an “accelerated pace,” despite the agency's recent touting of an uptick in inspection numbers in fiscal year (FY) 2017 over the prior year.

OSHA has scaled back its termination procedures for participants in the agency's Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), narrowing conditions spelled out in a 2013 Obama-era policy for when participating sites must be removed from the program that is designed to recognize exemplary workplace safety and health efforts.

With OSHA's silica rule slated to be enforceable on June 23, the agency is planning to provide compliance assistance to employers that make “good faith efforts” to meet the general industry and maritime standard's requirements, and any citations issued will be subject to federal review during the rule's first 30 days of enforcement.