Litigation

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.

West Virginia coal miners are urging a federal district court to reject the Justice Department’s (DOJ) latest bid to dismiss litigation challenging staffing cuts at a key federal workplace safety agency, arguing the Trump administration has not met its burden for dismissal and is relying on Supreme Court rulings that are not relevant.

A federal district court in West Virginia is allowing a coal miner’s lawsuit challenging staffing cuts at a key federal workplace safety agency to continue, allowing the plaintiff to file a second amended complaint that effectively moots the federal government’s repeated efforts over the past few months to get the case dismissed.

A New Jersey steel company is seeking to preserve its suit raising a series of constitutional and statutory claims against the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), urging a federal court to reject the Labor Department’s (DOL) motion to dismiss, charging the government’s arguments are “meritless.”

The 5th Circuit has rejected arguments from a poultry company that OSHA erred in issuing citations for machine-guarding and safety signage violations, finding no reason to set aside an administrative law judge’s determinations that the citations were in order.

A federal district court judge has rejected for the second time South Carolina’s attempt to prevent OSHA from requiring states to match annual increases to federal minimum and maximum OSH Act penalties, agreeing with the agency that the state failed to provide a viable claim and that some claims were time-barred.

The Labor Department (DOL) is urging a federal district court to dismiss a New Jersey steel company’s lawsuit raising a series of constitutional and statutory claims against the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), arguing none have merit.

ExxonMobil Corp. is urging a federal appeals court to overturn an OSHA enforcement action related to improper recordkeeping for failing to properly log work-related mental illnesses, arguing the action was arbitrary, contravened due process and exceeded the limits of OSHA’s statutory authority.