Yesterday, the House Education and Workforce Committee members raised concerns that OSHA has been intruding into family farms. In a letter to OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels, the committee requested documents surrounding guidance that unilaterally extends OSHA jurisdiction over farms with 10 or fewer employees.
The Committee members note in their letter:
“Now, without any public notice or review, the Obama administration has begun to overturn this legal standard through executive fiat. The June 2011 guidance redefines “farming operations” in order to allow OSHA inspectors onto family farms. Under the agency’s new and unprecedented logic, it appears anything outside of the actual growing of crops and raising of livestock could be deemed “non-farming operations” that would subject family farms to OSHA inspections. The guidance is a clear attempt to circumvent the law and the will of Congress.”
The letter was signed by Committee Chairman John Kline, Rep. Tim Walberg, Rep. David Roe, Rep. Todd Rokita, Rep. Howard “Busk” McKeon, Rep. Matt Salmon, Rep. Scott DesJarlais, Rep. Brett Guthrie, Rep. Susan Brooks, Rep. Larry Bucshon, and Rep. Richard Hudson. At the conclusion of the letter, the committee members urged OHSA to withdraw its guidance and ask the agency to deliver documents and communications regarding OSHA’s policy change by January 28.
For the complete text of the letter, see http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/01-14-13-osha-family_farms.pdf.
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December 18
New Jersey adopts disparate impact rules; Teamsters oppose railroad merger; court pauses more shutdown layoffs.
December 17
The TSA suspends a labor union representing 47,000 officers for a second time; the Trump administration seeks to recruit over 1,000 artificial intelligence experts to the federal workforce; and the New York Times reports on the tumultuous changes that U.S. labor relations has seen over the past year.
December 16
Second Circuit affirms dismissal of former collegiate athletes’ antitrust suit; UPS will invest $120 million in truck-unloading robots; Sharon Block argues there are reasons for optimism about labor’s future.
December 15
Advocating a private right of action for the NLRA, 11th Circuit criticizes McDonnell Douglas, Congress considers amending WARN Act.
December 12
OH vetoes bill weakening child labor protections; UT repeals public-sector bargaining ban; SCOTUS takes up case on post-arbitration award jurisdiction
December 11
House forces a vote on the “Protect America’s Workforce Act;” arguments on Trump’s executive order nullifying collective bargaining rights; and Penn State file a petition to form a union.