On March 14, 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued temporary enforcement guidance addressing the fit-testing requirements in the agency’s respiratory protection standard (29 C.F.R. § 1910.134)....more
On the evening of March 9, 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a new guidance, “Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19.” The guidance divides employers into four risk categories and...more
3/11/2020
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Travel Restrictions ,
Traveling Employee ,
Workplace Safety
For employers concerned about how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been enforcing its Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard for General Industry, the agency’s enforcement data for the standard’s...more
3/10/2020
/ Construction Industry ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Occupational Exposure ,
OSHA ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Safety Violations ,
Silica ,
Statutory Penalties ,
Workplace Hazards
The recent spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States has caused employers to be increasingly concerned and uncertain regarding the future of their workforces. Below are some answers to frequently asked...more
3/9/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
OSHA ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Management ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
For construction employers anxious over how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and state plan states are enforcing the Respirable Crystalline Silica in Construction Standard, the last two calendar years...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released an updated National Emphasis Program (NEP) to focus enforcement efforts on amputation hazards in manufacturing industries. It replaces the previous...more
On June 26, 2019, in Kisor v. Wilkie, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to overrule its prior decisions in Auer v. Robbins, 519 U.S. 452 (1997) and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., 325 U.S. 410 (1945). These...more
Scott A. Mugno, President Trump’s nominee to be Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, withdrew his name from consideration in a letter submitted on May 14, 2019, to the White House and to Secretary...more
On January 25, 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published in the Federal Register its revisions to its electronic recordkeeping rules. As expected, OSHA eliminated the requirement for employers...more
1/28/2019
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
AFL-CIO ,
Electronic Filing ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
FOIA ,
OSHA ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Workplace Injury
In 2019, general counsels can expect the debate to rage on over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) proposal to rescind the requirement that large employers electronically submit information from OSHA...more
On October 9, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld a district court’s order quashing an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection warrant. OSHA unsuccessfully...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officially kicked off its National Emphasis Program (NEP) on Trenching and Excavation on October 1, 2018. With the NEP comes enhanced enforcement, education, and a new...more
On July 30, 2018, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register seeking comments on a proposed measure that would partially rescind the 2016...more
Employers that are worried about whether their new or upgraded programs for silica protection will pass regulatory muster under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) general industry standard for...more
For construction employers facing uncertainty on exactly how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is enforcing the new silica standard in Construction, we now have a little bit of data that helps shed some...more
With the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) silica standard already in effect for the construction industry and about to go into effect in June of 2018 for general industry, many employers are anxious...more
The federal government entered a partial shutdown beginning on January 20, 2018, due to a lack of appropriations. As a result, certain agencies that rely solely on government funding will not be able to provide all services. ...more
On Friday, December 22, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected all of American industry’s many challenges to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) new silica dust...more
On October 19, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued Interim Enforcement Guidance for enforcing the Respirable Crystalline Silica in Construction Standard, 29 CFR 1926.1153. OSHA began...more
According to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), women are less likely than men to incur workplace injuries, but the injuries reported by women are disproportionately unique to...more
Covered employers must post the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Form 300A between February 1 and April 30, 2017. Form 300A is a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that...more
A Moving Target: The Not So Final Overtime Rule -
On November 22, 2016, a federal judge for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from...more
1/23/2017
/ Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Data Security ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Discrimination ,
e-Discovery ,
Employee Benefits ,
Evidence ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gun Laws ,
Guns-in-Trunks Legislation ,
Information Sharing ,
Joint Employers ,
LGBTQ ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Sick Leave ,
Transgender ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages ,
White-Collar Exemptions ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
On November 28, 2016, a federal district judge rejected several industry groups’ attempt to halt certain aspects of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and...more
Trump’s victory in Tuesday’s Presidential election has conventional wisdom predicting that his administration will defang the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in several ways. One, by ending or curtailing...more
On September 8, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) filed a federal court complaint in Dallas, seeking to strike down what has become known as the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA)...more