BOS3525 Columbia Southern Unit VI Legal Aspects Safety Hearing Paper Unit VI Assignment You fail to reach an informal settlement agreement with the area d

BOS3525 Columbia Southern Unit VI Legal Aspects Safety Hearing Paper Unit VI Assignment

You fail to reach an informal settlement agreement with the area director. You file a Notice to Contest within the required 15-

day period. Your case is assigned to an administrative law judge (ALJ). Prepare a document summarizing the case you will

submit to the ALJ. The document should, at a minimum, discuss the following issues:

which citations and penalties you would contest,

the reasoning behind each contested citation and/or penalty,

documents you would bring to the hearing,

individuals you would use at the hearing,

BOS 3525, Legal Aspects of Safety and Health 3

how the case before the ALJ differs from the informal conference,

what information will be presented before the ALJ that was not presented in the informal conference, and

what information you would request from OSHA as part of discovery.

You must support your actions with reliable sources. Your grade will be based on your ability to present a case to your

professor, serving as the ALJ, to reduce or vacate either the severity of some citations or the amount of some penalties. If

you simply state that you accept the citations and penalties as written, you will receive a minimal score on the assignment.

Your response must be a minimum of two pages in length, using at least one reference. All sources must be cited in the text

and on the reference page, using APA style.

Information about accessing the grading rubric for this assignment is provided below. UNIT VI STUDY GUIDE
Adjudicating OSHA Citations
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VI
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
1. Assess Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rulemaking, enforcement, and
adjudication processes.
1.1 Describe the process used to request and present a case before an administrative law judge.
1.2 Describe how a formal hearing differs from an informal conference.
1.3 Describe the discovery process of a formal hearing.
7. Examine affirmative defenses used to contest alleged violations.
7.1 Discuss the results that may be achieved in a formal hearing.
7.2 Summarize the information that may be presented during a formal hearing.
7.3 Discuss which parties are allowed to attend formal hearing.
Course/Unit
Learning Outcomes
1.1
1.2
Learning Activity
Required Reading, Assignment
Required Reading, Assignment
1.3
7.1
7.2
7.3
Required Reading, Assignment
Required Reading, Assignment
Required Reading, Assignment
Required Reading, Assignment
Reading Assignment
OSHA’s Field Operations Manual (FOM): Click here to access a PDF document of the FOM.
Chapter 15:
Legal Issues
In order to access the following resource, click the link below:
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2016). Field operations manual. Retrieved from
https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_02-00-160.pdf
Unit Lesson
If an informal settlement cannot be reached during or after the informal conference, an employer has an
additional option available. The employer can formally contest the citations and penalties. Although many
employers choose to not take this step, a review of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
databases for 2012 show that employers are able to obtain significant reductions by formally challenging
penalties. Kramer (2014) analyzed the data and found that employers who chose to formally contest the
citations received an average reduction of 58%, and 17% were completely removed. This is a higher
percentage for both categories than was achieved through the informal conference. The Occupational Safety
and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) was not involved when Kramer (2014) reported his results. When
the OSHRC became involved in a formal contest, more than one-third of the citations were totally dismissed
(Kramer, 2014).
BOS 3525, Legal Aspects of Safety and Health
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As we have stated several times in this course, the Notice of Contest must be UNIT
filed within
15-working
x STUDY
GUIDE days
after the receipt of the citations and penalties. Generally, if a Notice of ContestTitle
is not filed within the 15working day period, the citations and penalties become final. Once an employer files a Notice of Contest,
informal conferences cannot be scheduled. If an employer asks for an informal conference at the same time
or after filing a Notice of Contest, the employer will be notified that the informal conference cannot be
scheduled unless the formal Notice of Contest is withdrawn. This is the reason it is important for an employer
to schedule an informal conference and leave adequate time to file a Notice of Contest after the informal
conference. If an employer submits a Notice of Contest after the 15-working day period, the area director will
send a notice to the employer stating that the notice cannot be accepted and explain the process for filing the
late notice to the OSHRC.
The OSHRC was created with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act to provide
employers with a method to obtain a fair and timely response to contests of citations and penalties. In order to
make the process fair, the OSHRC is an independent agency, not related to the Department of Labor where
OSHA resides. This independence is important in making sure OSHA is honest in their dealings with
employers. Contested cases are assigned to and presided over by administrative law judges (ALJs).
The OSHRC has three offices located in Washington D.C., Denver, and Atlanta. The chief administrative law
judge is located in the Washington D.C. office, along with four ALJs. The Denver office has a first
administrative law judge, along with three additional ALJs. The Atlanta office also has a first administrative
law judge, but only two additional ALJs (OSHRC, 2015). When a Notice to Contest is received, the case is
assigned to an ALJ at the location closest to the location where the citations and penalties were issued.
States who have established a state-run OSHA program will have their own OSHRC. For example, the State
of Kentucky has an approved state OSHA program. Contested citations and penalties are heard by Kentucky
OSHRC (KOSHRC), which is an independent agency established by state law KRS 338.071 (KOSHRC,
2015). Contested citations and penalties issued by KY OSHA are heard by ALJs from the KOSHRC instead of
the OSHRC. The rules of law, however, are the same.
The rues of law associated with hearings are similar to other administrative cases. Unlike the informal
conference, during the formal contest of citations, each side is allowed to “discover” what evidence the other
side has by asking them to produce documents, send questions to the other side (called interrogatories), and
conduct depositions of potential witnesses. Depositions are a process where potential witnesses for one side
can be asked questions related to the case while under oath. Depositions are very common, especially if one
or both sides are using expert witnesses. The deposition allows attorneys for each side to evaluate the
strength of the other side’s case. In some instances, settlement agreements are reached after the depositions
and prior to a formal hearing.
The ALJ will hold a formal hearing if an agreement is not reached. The hearing will be scheduled in a location
close to where the citations and penalties were issued. The rules of the hearing are similar to the rules in
other administrative courts. Witnesses are sworn in, a transcript is recorded by a court reporter, and a
representative for both sides (typically an attorney) has the ability to question each witness. The ALJ may
exclude testimony based on the rules of law. For example, the Daubert test is sometimes used to exclude the
testimony of a witness. The Daubert test says that if an expert is rendering an opinion, he or she must be
qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, and the opinion must meet certain criteria.
The testimony must be based on sufficient facts or data. The testimony has to be based on reliable accepted
scientific principles. The witness has to apply the scientific principles reliably to the facts of the case (Daubert
v.Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 1993). One purpose of the Daubert test was to keep what is considered “junk
science” out of the court proceedings. Therefore, opinions have to meet the criteria of current scientific
knowledge and testing, peer review, and be considered acceptable in the scientific community. Some tests
performed by so-called “experts” that are not accepted practice in the field are generally not allowed to be
presented in court. An example would be a safety and health “expert” who develops his or her own sampling
and analytical method that has not been validated using OSHA or NIOSH criteria and is not widely accepted
by other safety and health professionals. The results of sampling using that method would typically not be
allowed in the OSHRC proceedings. This has occurred many times in cases involving exposures to fungal
spores and mycotoxins (mold) because most of the sampling and analytical methods for mold spores and
mycotoxins have not been validated, and there has not been a general consensus among mold experts
concerning the methods. However, each ALJ would make a decision of the admissibility on the data based on
his or her understanding of the rules of law.
BOS 3525, Legal Aspects of Safety and Health
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The OSHRC has two types of hearings available. The full hearing is what wasUNIT
discussed
above.
For smaller,
x STUDY
GUIDE
less complicated cases, the ALJ may use simplified proceedings. Simplified proceedings
are used for cases
Title
with less than $20,000 to $30,000 in total aggregate penalties. Simplified proceedings cannot be used if there
are willful or repeat citations or if a fatality has occurred. The main differences between the full hearing and
the simplified proceedings are that there are no pleadings and no discovery, including depositions. OSHA is
required to provide the employer with certain documents within 12 to 30 days after the case has been
designated, depending on the type of document (OSHRC, 2010a). The hearings are also less formal, and the
ALJ will sometimes render an opinion at the end of the hearing instead of days or weeks later as is common
with formal hearings. The decisions of the ALJ in both full and simplified proceedings become final 30 days
after the decision is published.
The decisions of an ALJ may or may not be reviewed by the entire OSHRC. The chief ALJ chooses some
opinions to review without any request. However, OSHA, the employer, or an employee may also request a
review of a decision. The party must file a petition for discretionary review with the ALJ or the Executive
Secretary of the OSHRC. The OSHRC will typically request each party to file a brief explaining their position
on the decision (OSHRC, 2010b). The OSHRC may also request that each party present some oral
arguments in front of the commission. If the OSHRC reviews a decision, the decision may be changed or
totally vacated. If the OSHRC issues a decision, the ruling becomes final 60 days after being issued. Even
that decision is not the final step. Due process allows any of the parties to appeal the decision of the OSHRC.
An appeal of an OSHRC would be heard by one of the Circuit Courts. The decision of a Circuit Court
becomes final when it is issued.
The OSHRC publishes decisions reached by ALJs and reviews by the OSHRC at
http://www.oshrc.gov/decisions/index.html. State OSHRCs will also publish decisions by ALJs and the state
OSHRCs on their websites.
References
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed. 2d 469, (1993).
Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. (2015). KOSH Review Commission.
Retrieved from http://www.koshrc.ky.gov/Pages/KOSHRCHome.aspx
Kramer, W. (2014, February). Is it a safe bet to challenge OSHA? Risk Management Magazine. Retrieved
from http://www.rmmagazine.com/2014/02/01/is-it-a-safe-bet-to-challenge-osha/
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. (2010a). Subpart M — simplified proceedings. Retrieved
from http://www.oshrc.gov/procrules/2200subm.html
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. (2010b). Subpart F — post-hearing procedures.
Retrieved from http://www.oshrc.gov/procrules/2200subf.html
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. (2015). The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health
Review Commission organizational chart. Retrieved from http://www.oshrc.gov/about/Org_Chart.pdf
Suggested Reading
In order to access the following resources, click the links below:
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Administrative law judge; powers and duties. Retrieved
from
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=11216
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). OSHA Review Commission: Simplified proceedings, 29
CFR § 2200.200. Retrieved from
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=11458
BOS 3525, Legal Aspects of Safety and Health
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). SEC. 12: The Occupational
andGUIDE
Health Review
UNITSafety
x STUDY
Commission. Retrieved from
Title
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=OSHACT&p_id=3366
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Settlement procedure, 29 CFR § 2200.120. Retrieved
from
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=11457
Learning Activities (Non-Graded)
Non-Graded Learning Activities are provided to aid students in their course of study. You do not have to
submit them. If you have questions, contact your instructor for further guidance and information.
The OSHRC publishes decisions by administrative law judges and the full OSHRC on their website:
http://www.oshrc.gov/decisions/index.html
Search the website for some recent decisions. What types of cases are typically reviewed by the OSHRC?
Are the majority of the decisions that are reviewed by the OSHRC upheld, changed, or vacated? Do you
detect any pattern to decisions that are changed by the OSHRC?
BOS 3525, Legal Aspects of Safety and Health
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