Heather L. Macdougall

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Healthcare Employers Beware: OSHA Campaign Is Targeting You

On July 16, 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it is launching a campaign that aims to protect healthcare workers from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).  While this campaign expressly targets the District of Columbia and three nearby states, it is part of a broader campaign by OSHA, unions, and health worker advocates … Continue Reading

Supervisor Misconduct Alone is Insufficient to Impute Employer Liability Under the OSH Act

On July 24, 2013, in Comtran Group, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit overturned a final decision of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (“Review Commission”) and issued an important decision affecting employer liability under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act”) in a … Continue Reading

OSHA Has Been Hard at Work – Will You Be Ready if OSHA Knocks at Your Door?

A look at a recent speech given by OSHA’s Assistant Secretary, David Michaels, Ph.D., provides employers with insight into what agency touts as successes over the past several years and its vision for the year ahead.  Addressing OSHA’s employees at its “All-Hands Meeting” in February 2013, Dr. Michaels noted that in recent years, the agency … Continue Reading

OSHA Releases Regulatory Agenda and Projects that Final Action Will Be Taken on 10 Regulations in 2013

The federal government, including agencies such as OSHA, are required to give notice of significant regulatory activity by publishing a “semi-annual” regulatory agenda that outlines the status of on-going and planned regulatory activity.  Apparently, OSHA doesn’t understand the meaning of “semi-annual” because it long delayed the publication of a regulatory agenda for 2012, waiting to … Continue Reading

OSHA Announces New Leader Of Whistleblower Protection Program

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has named a former chairman of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”), as the new director of OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program.  On November 20, officials of OSHA announced that Beth Siavet will lead the agency’s whistleblower protection efforts. OSHA enforces the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational … Continue Reading

Does Your Policy Covering Employees’ Use of Social Media Cross the Line – And Just Where Is That Line Anyway?

Two recent rulings by the National Labor Relations Board (Board) involving employees’ use of social media make it clear that employers who want to avoid violating federal labor laws are well served to revisit their social media policies and, perhaps along with their counsel, take a close look at whether these policies violate the National … Continue Reading
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