Changes to OSHA Electronic Submission Requirement Take Effect February 25

By Julie Laemmle Watts

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) published a final rule on January 25, 2019, which goes into effect February 25, 2019.  The final rule better protects worker privacy by eliminating the electronic submission requirement of certain forms.  Specifically, employers with 250 or more employees will no longer have to electronically submit information from Form 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report).  However, employers with 250 or more employees, as well as employers in certain designated industries with 20 or more employees but fewer than 250 employees, will still be required to electronically submit  information from Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) on an annual basis.  The final rule also requires covered employers to submit Employer Identification Numbers (“EIN”) when electronically filing injury and illness data, which OSHA hopes will reduce duplicative employer reporting.  Notably, employers do not have to submit EINs until 2020.

The final rule does not change the fact that all covered employers must still maintain OSHA Forms 300 and 301 onsite for OSHA inspections and enforcement of actions.

Important dates:

Final rule goes into effect February 25, 2019

Submission of Form 300A data for 2018 is due by March 2, 2019

Submission of EIN is due by March 2, 2020 (to coincide with employers’ submission of 2019 300A data)

Please notify us if you would like to discuss the above with a member of the labor and employment team at Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP.

Stay Cool: Preventing Heat Illness in the Workplace

By Julie Laemmle

Heat-related hazards can affect a variety of workers and workplaces.  Without proper employer and employee precautions, exposure to heat can lead to worker injuries, diseases and fatalities; reduced productivity; and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) citations and penalties.  To minimize any health or business risks, employers should be properly educated on the dangers of occupational heat exposure, understand their responsibilities and take appropriate steps to protect workers.

Heat-related illnesses include heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat rash, heat fatigue and fainting.  Further, all of these illnesses can progress to much more serious conditions and could even lead to death.  Other heat-related risks

Can Your Employees Bring Firearms to Work?

By Julie Laemmle

Guns-at-work laws generally limit a private employer’s ability to prohibit its employees from bringing concealed firearms to the workplace.  These laws are state-specific, as there is currently no federal law that regulates weapons at private workplaces.

States that have statutory guns-at-work laws covering private employers include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin.

States that do not have statutory guns-at-work laws covering private employers include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

What do guns-at-work laws do?  Guns-at-work laws serve

Do Your Severance Agreements Violate Federal Law?

By Michelle Wyrick

In light of the enforcement positions taken recently by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), which administer several whistleblower statutes, employers (and especially publicly-traded companies) should review the release provisions in their severance agreements and update them if needed.

For many years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has taken the position that employers may not require employees who sign severance and release agreements to waive their rights to file charges with the EEOC or to participate in EEOC investigations.  The EEOC, however, has permitted employers to require employees to waive any right to monetary recovery in connection with any EEOC charges filed.  See EEOC Enforcement Guidance Non-Waivable Employee Rights under Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Enforced Statutes.

Now, the SEC has taken a more restrictive position.  Last month, the SEC fined two companies for using severance agreements that restricted

Occupational Safety & Health Administration Seeking Comments on Whistleblower & Anti-Retaliation Guidelines

By Douglas L. McSwain

On November 6, 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued a news release that it will be accepting comments from the public on a draft document entitled, Best Practices for Protecting Whistleblowers and Preventing and Addressing Retaliation.  Comments will be accepted by OSHA until January 19, 2016.

The guidelines in this draft document are well worth reading for all employers.  They are generalized enough that they provide a good internal prevention program for avoiding litigation, and even if litigation is brought based on an employer’s alleged retaliation, their implementation could supply employers a good litigation defense to defeat an employee’s claim (assuming, of course, the employer has adopted these “best practices”).

The Department of Labor (“DOL”), of which OSHA is a branch, is increasingly becoming the governmental agency before whom employers are brought for retaliation claims arising out of any number of areas of law governing the employment relationship.  Not just complaints regarding workplace health

OSHA 300 Form Must be Posted by February 1, 2014 For Many Employers

By Edwin S. Hopson

It is that time of year again!

Most employers, with some exceptions (such as those with 10 or fewer employees during all of the previous year), must post their OSHA 300 log from February 1, 2014 to April 30, 2014 “in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. You must ensure that the posted annual summary is not altered, defaced or covered by other material,” per OSHA regulations.

Injury and illness recordkeeping forms must be maintained on a calendar year basis.  In addition, they must be retained for 5 years at the establishment and must be available for inspection by representatives of OSHA, or appropriate state agency, which in Kentucky is the Kentucky OSH Program. To review the industries/establishments that are exempt from having to even fill out the form take a look at:

SIC Code	Industry
525	Hardware Stores
542	Meat and Fish Markets
544	Candy, Nut, and Confectionery Stores
545	Dairy Products Stores
546	Retail Bakeries
549	Miscellaneous Food Stores
551	New and Used Car Dealers
552	Used Car Dealers
554	Gasoline Service Stations
557	Motorcycle Dealers
56	Apparel and Accessory Stores
573	Radio, Television, & Computer Stores
58	Eating and Drinking Places
591	Drug Stores and Proprietary Stores
592	Liquor Stores
594	Miscellaneous Shopping Goods Stores
599	Retail Stores, Not Elsewhere Classified
60	Depository Institutions (banks & savings institutions)
61	Nondepository Institutions(credit institutions)
62	Security and Commodity Brokers
63	Insurance Carriers
64	Insurance Agents, Brokers, & Services
653	Real Estate Agents and Managers
654	Title Abstract Offices
67	Holding and Other Investment Offices
722	Photographic Studios, Portrait
723	Beauty Shops
724	Barber Shops
725	Shoe Repair and Shoeshine Parlors
726	Funeral Service and Crematories
729	Miscellaneous Personal Services
731	Advertising Services
732	Credit Reporting and Collection Services
733	Mailing, Reproduction, Stenographic Services
737	Computer and Data Processing Services
738	Miscellaneous Business Services
764	Reupholstery and Furniture Repair
78	Motion Picture
791	Dance Studios, Schools, and Halls
792	Producers, Orchestras, Entertainers
793	Bowling Centers
801	Offices & Clinics Of Medical Doctors
802	Offices and Clinics Of Dentists
803	Offices Of Osteopathic Physicians
804	Offices Of Other Health Practitioners
807	Medical and Dental Laboratories
809	Health and Allied Services,Not Elsewhere Classified
81	Legal Services
82	Educational Services (schools, colleges,universities and libraries)
832	Individual and Family Services
835	Child Day Care Services
839	Social Services, Not Elsewhere Classified
841	Museums and Art Galleries
86	Membership Organizations
87 899	Engineering, Accounting, Research,Management, and Related Services Services, not elsewhere classified

Whistleblowers Can Now File Complaints Online With OSHA

By Edwin S. Hopson

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently announced that whistleblowers covered by any one of 22 statutes administered by OSHA can now file complaints with the agency online.

“The ability of workers to speak out and exercise their rights without fear of retaliation provides the backbone for some of American workers’ most essential protections,” said OSHA Director Dr. David Michaels in an agency press release. “Whistleblower laws protect not only workers, but also the public at large and now workers will have an additional avenue available to file a complaint with OSHA.”

Currently, employees can make complaints to OSHA by filing a written complaint or by calling the agency’s 800 number or by calling an OSHA regional or area office. With this change, employees can now electronically submit a whistleblower complaint to OSHA by visiting www.osha.gov/whistleblower/WBComplaint.html.

The new online form prompts the worker to include basic whistleblower complaint information so they can be easily contacted for follow-up. Complaints are automatically routed to the appropriate regional whistleblower investigators. In addition, the complaint form can also be downloaded and submitted to the agency in hard-copy format by fax, mail or hand-delivery. The paper version is identical to the electronic version and requests the same information necessary to initiate a whistleblower investigation.

The whistleblower provisions of 22 statutes protect employees who report violations of various securities laws, trucking, airline, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail, public transportation, workplace safety and health, and consumer protection laws.