On July 7, Region 4 of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a news release reminding employers of their duty to protect employees from heat-related illnesses. Region 4 includes Florida,...more
As previously reported in EmployNews, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced a three-year national enforcement program to address employee exposure to heat-related health issues....more
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) established a dual enforcement structure for inspections and citations for workplace safety issues. Either federal OSHA enforces the law, or states have the option of electing to...more
Last week, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a new National Emphasis Program for workplace heat stress risks. The program will involve inspections of both indoor and outdoor worksites...more
A federal district court judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction blocking implementation of the White House’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal employees. The judge relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent...more
Following its loss at the Supreme Court last week, one might expect the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to throw its hands up and abandon efforts to treat COVID-19 spread as a workplace safety concern. Early...more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to an expedited review of legal challenges to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to...more
12/30/2021
/ Compliance Dates ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Masks ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Authority ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On December 15, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals partially lifted a nationwide stay issued by a Louisiana federal district court that preliminarily enjoined the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from implementing its...more
When an employer receives a citation for violation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety regulations, it can assert an affirmative defense claiming that the employees were exposed to the hazard as a result...more
On Tuesday, a Louisiana federal district court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing or enforcing regulations requiring employees of...more
12/6/2021
/ Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
As reported in EmployNews, the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration previously announced that it would not implement the federal OSHA COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for health care...more
If an employer receives a citation and notice of penalty from the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration, that citation contains a number of important options and associated time frames. Earlier this...more
Assuming it takes effect at some point, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s new COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) includes new legal mandates, as well as several options for affected employers. Chief...more
11/19/2021
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Contract Terms ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Masks ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
OSHA ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Buried in the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) is a reminder to employers about new alternative requirements for use of respirators to help control workplace...more
Under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act, states may elect to enforce their own health and safety programs in lieu of federal OSHA exercising enforcement authority. A number of states such as North Carolina and...more
With OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for employers with 100 or more employees to be released shortly, a number of states have begun efforts to counter such mandates, or place additional...more
The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force has issued a guidance document intended to help implement President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring COVID-19 vaccinations and other measures for all federal workers and U.S....more
10/7/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
New Guidance ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Subcontractors ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Last week, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced enhanced and expanded efforts to address heat-related illnesses in the workplace. The new initiative was prompted by excessive heat this summer in...more
A few days following President Joe Biden’s announcement of the COVID-19 vaccination or testing mandate for employers with 100 or more employees, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration held a webinar to...more
In recent months, we have reported extensively on the various carrot-and-stick approaches taken by employers to try to incentivize employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine. In recent weeks, we have seen employers frustrated over...more
We received notice last week from a health care client that, as of October, any employee of a vendor that enters their work premises must provide proof of vaccination from the coronavirus. For our firm, this means that...more
Last Friday, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued updated guidance for employers on best practices for avoiding workplace spread of the COVID-19 virus. It incorporates revised CDC guidelines...more
Last month, a Colorado business owner was sentenced to 10 months in prison following the death of one of his workers in a trenching accident. The deceased employee had not been trained in appropriate trenching techniques, and...more
A week ago, we published an alert explaining the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation’s issuance of a press release announcing that the state has decided to issue a general infectious disease standard...more
On Tuesday, the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation announced its intent to develop a general OSHA standard intended to address workplace hazards from all infectious diseases in the workplace. The...more