Union seeks to compel OSHA to issue COVID-19 emergency standard

May 19, 2020 - 02:58 PM
maine-medicare-court-order

The AFL-CIO yesterday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue within 30 days an emergency temporary standard to protect U.S. workers from COVID-19 under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.

The AFL-CIO and National Nurses United petitioned OSHA in March to issue an emergency temporary standard under section 6(c) of the Act. The court has ordered the Department of Labor to respond to the unions’ petition by 4 p.m. Friday, May 29 and the unions to reply to the department’s response by Tuesday, June 2.

The petition does not specify the precise contents of an emergency standard and if compelled by the court to comply, the department would have a good deal of discretion in creating such a standard.

Related News Articles

Headline
RFK Jr. says CDC will no longer recommend COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children, pregnant women
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. May 27 announced in a post on X that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
Headline
FDA to limit COVID-19 vaccine to people over 65, others at high risk for serious illness
Leaders of the Food and Drug Administration May 20 announced new guidelines for administering the COVID-19 vaccine in a paper published by the New England…
Headline
Study finds driving with COVID-19 raises crash risk by 25%
A study published April 8 by the Public Library of Science’s Journal of Global Public Health found that driving while infected with COVID-19 raises the risk of…
Headline
Senate Finance Committee advances RFK Jr. nomination for HHS secretary
The Senate Finance Committee Feb. 4 voted 14-13 to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. A…
Headline
CDC: Flu activity remains high, COVID-19 increasing while RSV peaks 
Respiratory illness activity remains high across the country, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seasonal flu…
Headline
OSHA ends efforts to establish COVID-19 safety standard 
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration Jan. 13 announced that it terminated efforts to establish a final COVID-19 safety standard to protect workers…