The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) focus on harassment in the workplace – and construction employers specifically – is no secret. The EEOC’s Strategic Enforcement Plan (“SEP”) for 2024-2028 specifically mentions construction as an industry where barriers in recruitment and hiring are of specific concern and includes combatting systemic harassment as one of the EEOC’s
On April 1, 2024, a new final rule was published which significantly revises OSHA’s longstanding regulations regarding an employee’s right to choose a representative to accompany parties during an OSHA’s onsite inspection and increases the likelihood of union access to non-union workplaces.
As outlined in Section 8 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employees
After a 3-2 vote along political party lines, the EEOC recently voted to publish its Proposed Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace, which remains open to public comment until November 1, 2023. When the current version is finalized, it will be the first update on harassment issued by the EEOC in almost 25
On May 1, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) announced its second National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) in three months, this time addressing the leading cause of fatal workplace injuries and the most frequently cited health and safety standard during construction industry inspections: falls.
According to a statement released by Assistant Secretary for OSHA
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