Litigation

The 5th Circuit has overturned OSHA’s workplace mental illness reporting rule and voided a citation against ExxonMobil issued after an industrial accident left an employee with PTSD, arguing that the agency lacks statutory authority because mental conditions were not considered “illnesses” when the OSH Act was passed in 1970.

The federal judge deciding whether OSHA’s Biden-era walkaround rule should be vacated has agreed to make his ruling without holding oral argument after both OSHA and the broad coalition of employers challenging the rule asked for a decision based solely on already-completed written briefing.

OSHA is renewing its push to dismiss litigation brought by a pair of Texas produce groups that are challenging the constitutionality of the OSH Act, arguing the plaintiffs lack standing, the court lacks jurisdiction, and the suit is flawed on the merits and was filed decades too late.

The 4th Circuit is upholding a lower court’s dismissal of South Carolina’s challenge to an OSHA rule requiring states to match annual increases to federal OSH Act penalties, finding South Carolina’s arguments seeking to reinstate the litigation “hold no water.”

A Texas-based energy infrastructure company is challenging the constitutionality of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), becoming the latest entity seeking to apply a 2024 Supreme Court ruling requiring jury trials to resolve OSHA citations.

The D.C. Circuit has upheld an OSHA citation against an oil and gas drilling specialty contractor after a fatal 2022 incident, rejecting the company’s arguments that the agency erred in issuing the citation, including claims that the OSH Act General Duty Clause is too vague.

OSHA and a broad coalition of employers are asking a federal district court to rule on the coalition’s challenge to the Biden-era walkaround rule without holding oral argument, noting the case has been pending for over two years and has been fully briefed since Oct. 2, 2024.

Texas produce groups are pushing back on OSHA’s efforts to dismiss the groups’ constitutional challenge to the OSH Act, arguing the agency is failing to address the merits of their arguments and instead is raising various procedural defenses that are flawed.

A Texas oil field equipment supplier has dropped without comment its legal challenge to the constitutionality of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), which it originally filed after receiving OSHA citations related to the death of a subcontractor’s employee.

Battery makers and other critical users of the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) are pointing to a worker protection value in EPA’s Biden-era TSCA rule restricting most uses of the solvent to support their argument that even though the rule provided them extended phaseout timelines, the conditions are too stringent and thus violate the toxics law.