The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed a major change to its rules regarding the way that employers report injury and illness data to the agency. On November 7, 2013, the OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels announced a new proposed rule that would require establishments with more than 250 employees, which are … Continue Reading
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
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
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
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
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
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