June 2, 2024
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) has filed a coalition lawsuit in federal court challenging the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process.” OSHA published its final rule on the process on April 1, 2024, with an effective date of May 31, 2024.
The rule allows employees to designate nonemployees as their representative during facility walkarounds with OSHA compliance safety and health officers.
In a statement on its website, the Chamber said the OSHA rule “giving union organizers, activists, plaintiffs’ attorneys, and even competitors access to employer worksites during routine OSHA inspections” is “statutorily unauthorized and arbitrary and capricious.”
“OSHA’s new walkaround rule is the Administration’s latest regulation to take a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to promoting unionization at all costs,” said Marc Freedman, vice president of the Chamber’s Employment Policy Division.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a condemnation of OSHA’s worker walkaround rule by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW), to which the American Rental Association belongs.
CDW laid out its grievances in a letter following the publication of OSHA’s rule in April. At the time, CDW Chair Kristen Swearingen also predicted legal challenges to the rule and, in such case, expected the organization to file an amicus brief with the court to state its concerns.
Co-plaintiffs in the Chamber’s suit, filed in the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, include the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, Longview Chamber of Commerce, Associated Builders and Contractors, Alliance for Chemical Distribution, Associated General Contractors, International Franchise Association, International Warehouse Logistics Association, National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, National Federation of Independent Business and National Retail Federation.
