OSHA and EEOC regulatory updates and enforcement stats on first year of Trump administration

OSHA

Rule and policy status

• Maximum penalties for violations increased to adjust for inflation as of Jan. 2, 2018 (see OSHA Watch)
• General industry compliance date for Beryllium Standard - March 12, 2018
• General industry compliance date for Silica rule - June 23, 2018
• Certification of crane operators - Nov. 10, 2018
• Elements of Walking-Working Surfaces & Fall Protection - Nov. 19, 2018
• Rewrite of Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) remains active in the final rule stage under the Standards Improvement Project to make non-controversial changes to confusing or outdated standards. The proposal is to remove "unexpected energization" language from the standard.
• Injury Data Electronic Submission. OSHA is working on a draft of a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) to "reconsider, revise, or remove provisions of the "Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses" final rule. While July 1, 2018 remains the deadline for the next data submission, OSHA recently changed its website to read: "Covered establishments with 250 or more employees are only required to provide their 2017 Form 300A summary data. OSHA is not accepting Form 300 and 301 information at this time." Pundits are speculating that changes will include increasing the thresholds for high hazard industries and small employers, limiting submission to Form 300A, and eliminating the Anti-Retaliation provisions.
• There has been no pullback in the criminal prosecution of employers for willful violations that result in a fatality. A.G. Sessions has not archived the Yates memo, which was issued under the Obama administration and expanded individual accountability for corporate wrongdoing and encouraged use of the tougher environmental statutes. Many expect continued criminal prosecutions.
• There has been a shift away from the enforcement-heavy philosophy of the Obama administration and an increase in compliance assistance programs and alliances. NBC News recently reported that the number of OSHA inspectors fell 4 percent over the first nine months of 2017; 40 inspectors had left the agency and not been replaced. Impact varied by region, with the Southeast region losing 10 inspectors and experiencing a 26% decline in inspections in the first eight months of the Trump administration. However, inspections in 2017 did increase overall.
• To date, there has been no change to the expanded scope of the Obama administration's repeat violation policies. However, this should be watched as many expect a return to the treatment of individual, independent workplaces rather than an umbrella corporate approach and a lookback period of three, rather than five years.
• There is an effort underway to revitalize the Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).
• There was a significant shift away from public shaming. Only 45 press releases related to fines were published in 2017, compared to an average of 463/year for the previous five years. (Conn Maciel Carey L.L.P.)
• Even though Fed OSHA is reducing the emphasis on enforcement, some state OSH programs, such as California, are increasing enforcement.

Enforcement stats

A recent webinar by the law firm, Washington-based Conn Maciel Carey L.L.P. took a look at OSHA enforcement action in 2017 and the results may surprise you:

• While the number of OSHA inspections declined each year from 2012 to 2016, they increased 1.4% from 31,948 in 2016 to 32,396 in 2017
• The number of violations issued has declined since 2010. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of violations declined from 59,856 to 52,519 or 12.2%
• The percentage of inspections that resulted in no citations issued has remained relatively stable - between 23% and 27%
• The average penalty per serious violation was $3,645 in 2017, up from $3,415 in 2016
• The cases with proposed penalties of $100,000 of more jumped dramatically from 154 in 2016 to 218 in 2017, but million-dollar cases fell from an average of 8.4 per year to 6 in 2017
• The number of repeat violations dropped from 3,146 in 2016 to 2,771 in 2017

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Rule and policy status

• The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has vacated the EEOC's wellness rule effective Jan. 1, 2019, instructing the agency that its goal of revising the rule by 2021 is too slow
• The Obama rule for large companies to report wages by race and gender on the EEO-1 form was stayed by the Office of Management and Budget in August 2017, except for the new March 31 filing deadline. Covered employers must file their 2017 Form EEO-1 no later than March 31, 2018 and the snapshot period used to compile data should be one pay period during the period from October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017
• A pullback on efforts to expand Title VII to cover sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination is expected

Enforcement stats

• Retaliation charges accounted for the largest number of charges (41,097) filed in fiscal year 2017 for the seventh consecutive year and represented 48.8% of all charges
• While the overall number of charges filed declined by 7.9%, there was only a slight decline in retaliation charges
• Following retaliation, race was the second most frequent charge filed with the agency in fiscal year 2017 (28,528) - 33.9% of the total. This was followed by disability, 26,838, or 31.9% of the total; sex, 25,605, or 30.4% and age, 18,376, or 21.8%.
• The agency also received 6,696 sexual harassment charges and obtained $46.3 million in monetary benefits for victims of sexual harassment

According to the 14th annual Workplace Class Action Litigation Report issued by Chicago-based law firm Seyfarth Shaw L.L.P, key 2017 trends were:

• The monetary value of top workplace class action settlements rose dramatically, with the top 10 settlements in various employment-related class action categories totaling $2.27 billion, an increase of more than $970 million from 2016's $1.75 billion
• Evolving case law precedents and new defense approaches resulted in better outcomes for employers in opposing class certification requests
• There was no "head-snapping pivot" in filings and settlement of government enforcement litigation despite the change in administration. In fact, government enforcement litigation increased in 2017
• Several key U.S. Supreme Court rulings over the past year were arguably more pro-business than past year's decisions

Despite the change in the administration and the Trump deregulatory agenda, the enforcement stats suggest workplace issues are still a high priority for OSHA and the EEOC. Some speculate this will change when new leadership is fully in place. Others suggest that significant enforcement will continue since the language and requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act make deregulation difficult without legal challenges and even if the risk of being subjected to systemic EEOC litigation lessens, employers who do not have robust and effective anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and practices will remain at significant risk of litigation from private attorneys.