Flash: OAL Approves Emergency COVID Regulation

Here’s how the Office of Administrative Law acted on the controversial Cal/OSHA regulation, after a slew of comments by the employer community. Get a copy of the 21 page standard. Cal-OSHA Reporter

 

Protest held outside OR-OSHA inspector’s home after gym fined $90K for staying open

Protestors rallied Sunday outside the home of an Oregon OSHA inspector who fined a Salem-area gym $90,000 for allegedly staying open during a two-week state freeze related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Oregonian

 

IOSHA fines tree business after fatality

Indiana OSHA has fined a tree-cutting business $12,000 in connection with the work-related death of a 36-year-old man who was was struck by a tree branch June 1 when he walked into the drop zone clearing area at a worksite in Anderson. Star Press

 

Fed-OSHA fails to issue citations in thousands of COVID-19 complaints

Hundreds of employees at Pennsylvania companies, hospitals and nursing homes reportedly have filed complaints with Fed-OSHA alleging violations of Center for Disease Control guidelines, including no mask-wearing, social distancing or personal protective equipment, but records show Fed-OSHA has issued citations in less than 2 percent of the cases. Since February, the agency reports it has closed 12,000 cases nationally and more than 700 in Pennsylvania. WTAE (Pittsburgh)

 

Jacksonville firemen sue over facial hair policy

A group of 31 firemen has filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against the city of Jacksonville, Florida challenging a rule that they must completely shave their facial hair. The lawsuit centers around a condition, pseudofolliculitis barbae, that occurs when facial skin becomes inflamed or facial hair becomes ingrown. The condition affects approximately 60 percent of African-American men. News4Jax (Jacksonville, Fla.)

 

‘Every state needs emergency regulations to protect essential food workers’

Nine months into the pandemic, food industry employees continue to be forced to choose between not working and running the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19. They will likely experience hundreds more needless deaths and the impact on them could shock the food system, writes Amy K. Liebman, director of environmental and occupational health for the Migrant Clinicians Network. Stat

 

OFF TOPIC

Former CIA officer arrested and charged with espionage

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 67, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was arrested on August 14, 2020, on a charge that he conspired with a relative of his who also was a former CIA officer to communicate classified information up to the Top Secret level to intelligence officials of the People’s Republic of China. According to court documents, Ma and his relative (identified as co-conspirator #1) conspired with each other and multiple PRC intelligence officials to communicate classified national defense information over the course of a decade. United States Department of Justice