Construction Law Blog

As of Friday, January 15, 2021, OSHA penalties will increase in accordance with the Federal Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (the “Inflation Act”).  

Under new OSHA guidance most employers no longer need to make work-relatedness determinations for employee cases of COVID-19 in the absence of objective evidence of work-relatedness and can focus on increased sanitization and other practices to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

In the ever-changing environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, OSHA is offering new guidance for employers relating to workplace safety and reporting requirements. This post provides readers with key takeaways from the new guidance.

Construction industry professionals faced a number of challenges in 2019—chief among them a persistent labor shortage. 2020 promises to bring similar challenges to the construction industry. Below we identify six trends we expect to carry forward into the new year.

In an article published on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 for Construction Executive, Courtney Paulk and Kelly Bundy discuss how employers can establish an “unpreventable employee misconduct” defense amid alleged Occupational Safety and Health Administration violations.

According to Courtney and Kelly, just because an employee broke the rules and did not follow safety procedure, it does not mean the employer is off the hook for liability. Click to learn their six tips for employers to establish and succeed in unpreventable employee misconduct defense.

2018 was a strong year for the construction industry. Despite a labor shortage and some uncertainty regarding material costs, construction professionals remain optimistic that the trend of growth will continue in 2019. Below we identify eight trends we expect to carry forward into the new year. 

A recent decision from a New York court provides the OSHA Review Commission with potentially unlimited "look back" ability when assessing potential repeat violations, and the decision may have implications in Virginia.

Employers faced with possible OSHA violations often want to shift blame to an unruly employee. This is called the defense of “unpreventable employee misconduct.” An employer is not relieved of responsibility simply because an employee did not follow the rules. In order to assert this defense effectively, an employer should take note of these four tips.

An OSHA inspector just completed an inspection of your worksite. What steps should you take now?