Conn Maciel Carey LLP

Compliance Countdown: New York Retail Worker Safety Act Effective Date Nears

Theresa Jordan Leave a comment

By Andrea Chavez and Rachel Conn

As we previously reported, on September 5, 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Retail Worker Safety Act (S8358C/A8947C) into law. This significant legislation requires retail employers in New York State to implement comprehensive workplace violence prevention policies and provide mandatory training to their employees.

Most provisions of the Act (excluding panic button installation) are set to take effect on March 3, 2025. While a potential Chapter Amendment may extend this date to June 1, 2025, employers should prepare for March 3rd compliance.

The New York State Department of Labor (NY DOL) is tasked with Continue reading →

Analysis of OSHA’s Proposed Heat Illness Prevention Rule – Sign-up for the Kickoff Meeting for CMC’s Employers Heat Rulemaking Coalition

Theresa Jordan 5 Comments

By Eric J. Conn and Beeta B. Lashkari

On July 2, 2024, OSHA revealed an unofficial version of its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for an Indoor and Outdoor Heat Illness Prevention Rule.  For unknown reasons, OSHA has not yet published the official NPRM in the Federal Register, but it is expected any day.  Interested stakeholders will have a 120-day period to submit public comments to OSHA after the NPRM is published, which will make comments due likely sometime in December 2024.

CMC’s Employers Heat Illness Prevention Rulemaking Coalition has had a prominent seat at the table from the get-go to advocate for the most reasonable possible standard. Read our article here for more information about our advocacy to OSHA during earlier stages of OSHA’s Heat Illness Rulemaking.

This Alert provides a detailed summary of what is in OSHA’s proposed Indoor and Outdoor Heat Illness Prevention Rule and how to ensure your industry’s interest are represented during the final phase of OSHA’s Heat Illness Rulemaking.

What is in OSHA’s NPRM for the Heat Illness Rule

Below is a summary of what is in the NPRM and some of our initial impressions of OSHA’s proposal: Continue reading →

National and Local Emphasis Programs [Webinar Recording]

Theresa Jordan Leave a comment

On Thursday, July 18, 2024, Aaron Gelb, Mark Ishu, and Dan Deacon presented a webinar about National and Local Emphasis Programs.

Employers expect OSHA to show up after reporting a serious incident or when employees complain about certain types of hazards, but the agency has been focused now, more than ever it seems, on proactive enforcement methods.

As part of this strategy, OSHA has launched a series of new National Emphasis Programs (“NEP”) targeting heat illness, silica, and the warehousing industry, while also announcing a number of new Regional and Local Emphasis Programs (“REP” and “LEP”) across the country. Employers in the covered industries should take note because their establishments can be selected for an inspection under these programs even if they have an exemplary safety record, have not been subjected to any complaints, and have not recently reported a serious incident. Understanding these enforcement priorities is vital for companies to better prepare for potential regulatory inspections.

Additionally, the enforcement directives created by OSHA for these programs contain blueprints for how OSHA plans and conducts inspections of covered employers, so there is no excuse not to be prepared for the inevitable knock on the door. This was an informed discussion about what covered employers can expect if selected for an emphasis program inspection and what can be done now to prepare.

Participants in this webinar learned: Continue reading →

OSHA Officially Published Its Proposed Emergency Response Rule

Eric J. Conn Leave a comment

By Eric J. Conn and Beeta B. Lashkari

We hope you saw our post last week about OSHA’s new Emergency Response Rulemaking and the Rulemaking Coalition that Conn Maciel Carey LLP is organizing to work on this surprisingly onerous proposed rule.

When we published that article, the NPRM package had been revealed by OSHA but had not yet been published in the Federal Register.  That has now changed.  OSHA’s proposed Emergency Response rule for emergency and related responders was officially published in the Federal Register today.  Unless OSHA grants a request for an extension of the comment period, stakeholders’ written comments to the NPRM will be due in 90-days – by May 6, 2024.

Here is more detail about some concerning aspects of OSHA’s new proposed Emergency Response Rule and about our Rulemaking Coalition.

CMC’s prior OSHA Rulemaking Coalitions over the last several years have been successful in making important changes to OSHA’s major rulemakings and have otherwise been valuable experiences for our participants because of the timely and detailed updates about the rulemaking processes that we have provided.  We intend to take the same approach for this rulemaking.  We will coordinate with our coalition participants to: Continue reading →

OSHA’S Top Regulatory Priorities… Other than COVID-19

Eric J. Conn Leave a comment

By Eric J. Conn, Chair, Conn Maciel Carey’s national OSHA Practice

In the June/July issue of Tank Storage Magazine, Eric J. Conn, Founding Partner and Chair of Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s OSHA • Workplace Safety Practice Group, looks at recent changes in OSHA’s regulatory policies in the article, “OSHA’S Top Regulatory Priorities…Other than COVID-19.”

Here is a summary of his observations.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not slowed it rulemaking activities despite the attention COVID-19 has demanded over the past two years. In just the past six months, OSHA has:

  1. Published a notice of proposed regulation to expand its Electronic Recordkeeping Rule;
  2. Initiated an enforcement National Emphasis Program to address Heat Illness; and
  3. Launched rulemaking for an Outdoor and Indoor Heat Illness Prevention standard.

OSHA’S Rulemaking to Expand the E-Recordkeeping Rule

OSHA’s Standard To Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses (aka, the E-Recordkeeping Rule) has experienced Continue reading →

[BREAKING] Fifth Circuit Orders a Stay of OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination, Testing, and Face Coverings ETS

Eric J. Conn 6 Comments

By Conn Maciel Carey’s COVID-19 Task Force

Emphasizing that the extraordinary power afforded to OSHA under the emergency provisions of the OSH Act should be delicately exercised, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a 22-page opinion late yesterday, November 12th, reaffirming after briefing by both parties the Stay of OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination, Testing, and Face Coverings emergency temporary standard (ETS) that it had ordered on November 6th. The Fifth Circuit panel ordered that OSHA may take no further steps to implement or enforce its newly issued ETS until further court order, and thus may not require employees of covered employers to undergo COVID-19 vaccination, take weekly COVID-19 tests, or wear a mask.

Why Did the Fifth Circuit Stay OSHA’s ETS?

Notably, the Fifth Circuit commented in a footnote that debates over the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate have “roiled the country throughout much of the Fall,” and that the ETS (referred to as “the Mandate” by the three-judge panel) “affects every person in America one way or another.”  Drawing from a variety of sources—including White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain’s retweet of an MSNBC anchor’s tweet characterizing the ETS as a “workaround” for a federal vaccine mandate, the Court refused to accept the government’s arguments that a sufficient emergency exists justifying a second COVID-focused ETS in less than 6 months.  Indeed, the Court found that prior statements by the Administration “belie the notion that COVID-19 poses the kind of emergency that allows OSHA to take the extreme measure of an ETS.”  To that end, the Court seized on the fact that more than 78% of Americans aged 12 and older are either fully or partially vaccinated and thus face “little risk at all” according to the Administration.

While the November 12 opinion was issued after the Fifth Circuit conducted an “expedited” review, the Court leaves little doubt as to how it will likely rule Continue reading →