Contact Jordan Ohlin at johlin@littler.com
On April Fools’ Day, OSHA released its long-awaited final rule governing employees’ ability to designate a representative of their choosing during an OSHA inspection. This rule, known by many as the “Worker Walkaround Rule,” creates two critical changes effective May 31, 2024.
First, the rule allows employees to select another employee or a non-employee third party to serve as their representative during an OSHA inspection. This potentially opens the worksite to third parties seeking to facilitate organizing campaigns, political activity, or collect evidence for pending or forthcoming litigation. And, because an open inspection is required to trigger the rule, this could also lead to an increase in OSHA complaints. Second, the rule permits Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHO) to use their best judgment when determining whether the selected third party representative will help the CSHO conduct an effective and thorough inspection of the workplace.
The new rule leaves many open questions. What guidance do CSHOs have in determining whether to allow a non-employee third party on site during an inspection? What happens if employers object to the non-employee third party representative designation? Can there be multiple non-employee third party representatives present during an inspection and, if so, is there a cap?
This will be a discussion of the history behind the rule, the potential implications in unionized and non-unionized workplaces, and what we can expect following the effective date.
Time:
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. PT
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MT
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. CT
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET