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President Joe Biden announced late last week that he intends to nominate Doug Parker as the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Parker has led the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) since 2019 and has made a name for himself prioritizing workplace safety through aggressive enforcement tactics. If confirmed by the Senate, Parker would fill a position that has been vacant since January 2017. OSHA’s stated mission is to “assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance,” and the agency is tasked with enforcing a variety of whistleblower and safety regulations. What do employers need to know about the April 9 announcement?
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In a move that may slow the momentum toward an OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) aimed at COVID-19, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has ordered a pause in the development of any such standard to further analyze the current state of vaccinations and the virus itself. As reported by Bloomberg News on April 6, Secretary Walsh is seeking an update on the current state of affairs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which could affect the analysis of the disease. According to Bloomberg, the review is not expected to affect the ETS’s regulatory text.
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On March 12, 2021, OSHA established a 12-month long “National Emphasis Program,” effecting an immediate emphasis on the enforcement of safety standards associated with COVID-19. The “COVID-19 NEP” also creates “an added focus to ensure that workers are protected from retaliation.” OSHA coupled the COVID-19 NEP with an “Updated Interim Enforcement Response Plan for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” which details how Compliance Safety and Health Officers (“CSHOs”) should handle complaints, referrals, and severe illness reports, including in light of the COVID-19 NEP.
Some may be asking themselves what a National Emphasis Program, or “NEP,” actually is. It is a form of Directive issued by OSHA, which focuses its resources nationwide upon particular hazards and high-hazard industries. For example, in the past, OSHA has issued NEPs on Amputations in Manufacturing Industries, Primary Metal Industries
Thursday, April 8, 2021
On March 30, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed the complaint a group of meat packing plant workers filed last summer against then Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The complaint sought to force the secretary of labor to take action to address allegedly “imminently dangerous” working conditions in which half of the plant’s employees contracted COVID-19.
The plaintiffs, represented by Justice at Work Pennsylvania, Public Justice and Toward Justice, filed a first-of-its-kind claim directly against OSHA and the secretary of labor. In their complaint, the plaintiffs petitioned the court under Section 13(d) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to issue an order, known as a writ of mandamus, compelling the secretary of labor to take legal action against their employer, Maid-Rite Specialty Foods. Specifically, the plaintiffs asked the c
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