A federal district judge is refusing a request from the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to halt litigation over its rule allowing higher line speeds at swine slaughterhouses so the agency can reconsider the policy, backing unions who have argued that the rule jeopardizes worker safety and should be scrapped entirely.
September 16, 2026
Labor unions say the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) rule allowing swine slaughterhouses to raise line-speed limits regardless of worker safety impacts must be vacated, citing a recent Supreme Court decision they say shows that the agency’s refusal to consider safety data in the rulemaking is too fundamental a flaw to fix on remand.
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OSHA’s newly updated Unified Agenda of pending rulemaking actions adds only a few new items to its docket while delaying a host of previously planned proposals and final rules to summer or later, sparking fresh criticism from safety advocates who say the agency has slowed its regulatory work to a crawl.
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The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is fighting labor unions’ argument that an Inspector General critique of USDA worker safety data undermines its contested rule allowing some slaughterhouses to increase line speeds, countering that the “preliminary” data has “no bearing on the validity of the Final Rule.”
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Industry attorneys are largely welcoming a long-awaited IRS plan allowing companies to deduct from their federal taxes fines and penalties paid to the government under consent decrees, such as those resolving health, safety, and environmental enforcement actions.
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The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking remand from a federal district court to reconsider its rule allowing higher line speeds at some swine slaughterhouses after a judge faulted its consideration of worker safety risks, but labor groups challenging the policy oppose the reconsideration and say it would be a sham.
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OSHA has issued a non-binding “hazard bulletin” for grease traps that details how companies should protect workers against trap-related accidents, falling short of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) call for the agency to issue strict new rules for the traps after a child fell through a fast food venue’s grease trap cover and drowned.
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A federal district judge says in a new order that the Department of Agriculture (USDA) appears to have “engaged in arbitrary decision-making” by not addressing worker safety concerns in its rule revising swine slaughterhouse line speeds, allowing worker advocates to proceed with their challenge to the policy.
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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has finalized a rule narrowing its definition of when contractors and franchisees are “joint employers” subject to labor safety and other laws, over the objections of worker safety advocates who fear the plan could increase risks to many employees by hindering OSHA's ability to enforce safety requirements.
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The California Chamber of Commerce is warning employers that state regulators are poised to adopt likely expensive and burdensome new worker safety regulations in the coming year, including tighter lead-exposure standards, more stringent wildfire smoke protections, and first-time indoor heat protection measures.
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