Keep track of changes at OSHA, part 2

As the Biden administration prepares to turn the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) over to the second Trump administration, we are concluding our series on OSHA’s activities over the past year. (See “Keep track of changes at OSHA, part 1: Regulatory update, 2023-2024” in the November 2024 issue of FELI for the first part of the series.)

Quiet at OSHRC

Since April 2023, no decisions have been issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), a completely separate adjudicatory agency from OSHA and the Department of Labor (DOL) that decides employer contests of citations and other similar matters. The General Counsel doesn’t pursue litigation against employers and doesn’t issue policy memoranda.

OSHRC hasn’t had a quorum since April 2023. Two commissioners are required, and only Chair Cynthia Attwood has been on board during this period. She is able to accept requests for review of administrative law judge (ALJ) decisions of her agency but not to decide them.

The Biden administration had nominated two commissioners, former OSHRC Commissioner Amanda Wood Laihow and former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) lawyer Mark Eskenazi, considered a labor-side attorney, to be considered by the Senate in tandem, as is often done to receive bipartisan support. But they were not able to be confirmed.

Busy at OSHA