Litigation

The 4th Circuit has scheduled oral argument for May 5 in litigation where South Carolina is seeking to reinstate its challenge to OSHA’s requirement that states match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties after a federal judge last year dismissed for a second time the state’s challenge.

EPA and petroleum refiners are urging a federal court to dismiss litigation seeking to force the agency to regulate hydrogen fluoride (HF) under TSCA, arguing that even with an amended complaint, environmental groups lack standing and that TSCA cannot regulate accidental chemical releases that could harm workers or residents.

The 8th Circuit has denied without comment OSHA’s request for rehearing of a landmark ruling from a three-judge panel of the court that found the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) preempts OSHA from regulating worker safety around railcars.

The D.C. Circuit is questioning whether it has jurisdiction to decide a dispute between the Labor Department (DOL) and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) over whether the Labor secretary can vacate a citation or remove a designation indicating the violation is particularly serious.

The 10th Circuit has upheld OSHA citations against a Colorado psychiatric hospital for failing to prevent workplace violence, rejecting arguments that the agency lacked authority under the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause to issue the citations and that an administrative law judge (ALJ) erred in backing the citations.

The 11th Circuit has rejected a Georgia construction company’s challenge to OSHA’s multi-employer policy, finding the company failed to preserve for appeal most of its objections and that it failed to demonstrate that compliance with specific safety standards was infeasible.

The 6th Circuit has entered a new judgment in an OSHA enforcement case against a paper manufacturing company, clarifying that it is partially vacating an Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) order and remanding it for further proceedings, although it is unclear when OSHRC will consider the issue.

South Carolina is pushing back on OSHA’s efforts to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of the state’s challenge to the agency’s requirement that states match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, arguing in part that OSHA is pushing a flawed legal theory.

OSHA is asking a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit to reconsider its landmark ruling that found the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) preempts OSHA from regulating worker safety around railcars, arguing the preemption issue was not before the court, and even if it was, the judges made several other errors in their ruling.

Business groups are seeking to boost the chemical industry’s legal arguments that TSCA is intended to be a “gap-filling” statute between OSHA’s authority and other environmental and public health laws, arguing in a recently filed amicus brief that the Biden-era rule phasing out most ongoing uses of chrysotile asbestos improperly shifted that balance.