On January 26, 2023, OSHA issued two enforcement memoranda accompanied by a clear message to employers from Assistant Secretary for OSHA Doug Parker: employers who “choose to put profits before their employees’ safety, health and wellbeing” will be targeted. Aggressively.
OSHA’s first memorandum revises and significantly expands its seldom used instance-by-instance (“IBI”) policy. The decision
According to recent reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up roughly 10% of jobs in the construction industry, 30% in manufacturing, and as of 2021, and 75% of healthcare and social assistance jobs.[1] Although those numbers may have dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic, women are beginning to return to the workforce
What is OSHA’s top post-COVID enforcement priority? According to Assistant Secretary of Labor and the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), Doug Parker, it’s heat-related illnesses. On April 8, 2022, OSHA released its National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) for heat related issues in the workplace.
Before becoming head of federal OSHA enforcement,
I. Introduction
Today, less than two months after receiving the directive from President Biden, OSHA released its Emergency Temporary Standard that will affect two-thirds of the nation’s private workforce.
While most of the 490-page document includes detailed legal and scientific discussion (presumably in an effort to pre-empt expected legal challenges), the 15 or so pages
On Thursday September 9, 2021, President Biden outlined a multi-pronged plan to reduce the number of unvaccinated Americans in the United States, among other COVID-related initiatives. In addition to issuing an Executive Order implementing vaccination requirements for federal workers and requiring vaccinations for healthcare workers, President Biden also directed The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety
Today OSHA updated its previously issued “Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace.” The updates focus on: 1) helping employers protect unvaccinated workers (including those who are only partially vaccinated) or otherwise at risk (including those who are immunocompromised; and 2) implementing new guidance involving fully-vaccinated workers located in areas
Effective today, May 7, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) is officially withdrawing independent-contractor rule approved in early January and at the end of the Trump Presidency, which would have made it easier for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”).
Under President Trump’s
Following President Biden’s January mandate to OSHA to provide clear guidance to protect workers from COVID-19 exposure, OSHA has issued “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace.”
OSHA’s new guidance is intended to inform employers and workers of the risks of COVID-19, help identify risks of being exposed
Yesterday, on his first full day in office, President Biden signed an additional ten Executive Orders, among them one directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to take immediate action and issue guidance to employers on protecting workers from COVID-19.
Specifically identifying “healthcare workers and other essential workers, many of whom are people of
COVID-19 has imposed fresh and difficult challenges on employers, including the need to balance new legislative compliance with all that existed before the Year of the Pandemic. Before the end of the 2020 calendar year may be welcomed, however, employers in certain states should remain cognizant of approaching sexual harassment training deadlines. Although sexual harassment