Partners Alana Genderson and John Ring spoke with Law360 about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) final "walkaround rule," which allows workers to pick who represents them during safety inspections. John, a former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, and Alana said that employers worry that the rule presents the chance for anyone to come into a workplace for safety inspections.
"When I talk about this, so many employers are dumbfounded that they have to allow a stranger onto their premises as part of an OSHA inspection. It's one thing to say I'll allow the U.S. government inspector onto my premises, but now they might have to [facilitate] a union organizer, a community organizer? What about property rights?" John said. "A lot of employers are scratching their heads on this one."
"It's a question of privacy and confidentiality, and it also sweeps up lofty concerns about whether this is constitutional," Alana said. "What is the due process for a government agency to let a complete stranger, as John said, onto the worksite? How do they have authority to do that? This is very likely to be challenged in court, and these issues will be raised there when it's challenged."