OSHA Rolls Back Enforcement of Anti-Retaliation
Provisions!
Today, the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration
("OSHA") issued a standard interpretation clarifying its
position on the new recordkeeping rule's anti-retaliation
provisions. OSHA's memorandum essentially "rolls
back" its enforcement of the anti-retaliation provisions,
particularly concerning safety incentive programs and post-accident
drug testing. Why is this important? Mainly because many employers
struggled to understand the anti-retaliation provisions since they
were published, in guidance materials accompanying the new
regulations, in May 2016. Indeed, OSHA has gone to great lengths to
explain the anti-retaliation provisions in the new rule's
preamble, with OSHA guidance and several memorandums. To be blunt,
OSHA's explanations have been extremely vague and confusing.
But alas, the struggle to understand the anti-retaliation
provisions is over ... hopefully. Today's interpretation
