Seyfarth Synopsis: Smoke produced during surgical procedures is carcinogenic and can carry pathogens. Employers who fail to abate surgical smoke hazards may face liability from employee injuries and OSHA citations....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Illinois General Assembly has been working on a marijuana legalization bill this session. The Senate Bill would protect employer rights to ban marijuana and discipline employees for use....more
5/16/2019
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Cannabis Products ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
State and Local Government ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: A Democratic lead House subcommittee has proposed a large budget increase for both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Mine Safety and Health Administration....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Compliance with industry standard for combustible dust set for September 2020. Don’t delay, because OSHA is already citing employers using the not yet effective NFPA 652, Standard on the Fundamentals of...more
4/30/2019
/ Chemical Safety Board ,
Combustible Dust ,
Cooperative Compliance Regime ,
Manufacturing Facilities ,
OSHA ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Safety Standards ,
Toxic Exposure ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: Health care providers are increasingly called upon to address drug resistant medical cases such as Candida auris (C. auris), an emerging multidrug-resistant fungus that presents a serious health threat to...more
4/23/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Clinical Laboratories ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Occupational Exposure ,
OSHA ,
Risk Management ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL Inspector General recently issued an audit report that “OSHA Procedures for Issuing Guidance Were Not Adequate and Mostly Not Followed,” Report No. 02-19-001-10-105 (March 28, 2019)....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Cintas Corporation has recently become the first company to reach 100 sites with OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) (Program) Star certification....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling last week, the Court spoke to issues concerning the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and non-judicial foreclosures....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In recent decisions—including Secretary of Labor v. Integra Health Management, Inc., No. 13-1124 (OSHRC Mar. 4, 2019)—the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) has upheld violations of...more
3/27/2019
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
General Duty Clause ,
Healthcare ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Hostile Environment ,
Mass Shootings ,
OSHA ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety ,
Workplace Violence
Seyfarth Synopsis: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released its Behind the Wheel at Work Newsletter with the “latest news from the NIOSH Center for Motor Vehicle Safety.”...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: According to several states that have sued the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Federal Court, the Agency did not provide sufficient justification to rollback the electronic reporting rule...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A construction contractor twice orders, via text message, his employees to work on a roof, and both times the employees fall through. ...more
2/21/2019
/ Construction Project ,
Depositions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Evidence ,
False Testimony ,
Government Investigations ,
OSHA ,
Perjury ,
Safety Inspections ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: With the seemingly random workplace violence that continues unabated, many employers are again asking how best to protect their employees....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Jordan Barab, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of OSHA, announced on his blog this week that he would “start full time work at the Education and Labor Committee in the House of Representatives” to provide...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Fifth Circuit rules on Title VII liability concerning workplace violence in a healthcare setting involving third parties. Gardner v. CLC of Pascagoula, No. 17-60072 (5th Cir. February 6, 2019)....more
2/15/2019
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
General Duty Clause ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hostile Environment ,
OSHA ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Mitigation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety ,
Workplace Violence
Seyfarth Synopsis: OSHA has recently issued a Frequently Asked Questions for General Industry for the Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard.
We had noted previously in the blog that most of the provisions of the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: OSHA has just been sued for removing the requirements for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses), and...more
2/11/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Deregulation ,
Electronic Filing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Final Rules ,
OSHA ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Rollbacks ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
Seyfarth Synopsis: OSHA has just issued its final rule that removes the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Due to Senate Rules, the Trump nomination of Scott A. Mugno, for the Assistant Secretary of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health, has now again been “returned” to the Senate for consideration....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL has published its 2019 OSHA civil penalties.
We had blogged previously about the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2018 adjustments to the maximum civil penalty dollar amounts for OSHA violations....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In another business-friendly move, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently updated its Justice Manual to clarify that it “should not treat a party’s noncompliance with a guidance document as itself a...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The United States Department of Justice recently filed a seismic motion to dismiss in a series of healthcare fraud-related cases. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army (Corps) have recently proposed a “clear, understandable, and implementable definition of ‘waters of the United States’...more
12/21/2018
/ Clean Water Act ,
Comment Period ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Deregulation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Inland Waterways ,
Navigable Waters ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
Employers should be aware that OSHA and some state environmental agencies are now using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or “drones” in select inspections and investigations. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to reconsider a key precedent of administrative law that tells judges to defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation, taking up a challenge...more
12/14/2018
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Auer Deference ,
Denial of Benefits ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Judicial Review ,
Kisor v Wilkie ,
Reasonable Interpretations ,
Retroactive Application ,
SCOTUS ,
Veterans' Benefits