Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Rule Change Update
August 2, 2019—An Update from NIA Legal Counsel:
In late May the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) announced that starting on June 10, 2019, all Notices of Contest (NOC) would have to be electronically filed with the Review Commission. At that time, I was surprised because under the rules, the Review Commission does not take jurisdiction of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) case until after the NOC is filed with the OSHA area director. But, because of the information we had received, I advised in the May/June issue of NIA News, that after June 10 any NOC should be electronically filed with the Review Commission. I also advised that any employer filing an NOC should continue to file the NOC by letter with the appropriate area director until all of the bugs had been worked out of the system.
We continued to investigate this new rule and today we learned that my original concern and statement was correct. The NOC in any OSHA case in which one has to be filed SHALL (MUST) be filed by mail, or by hand delivery by no later than midnight on the 15th working day after the employer signs for the citations with the area director who issued the citations. It does not and should not be filed electronically with the Review Commission. If an NOC has been filed during this period electronically with the Review Commission no harm has been done, as long as the employer followed the advice I gave to also mail a copy of the NOC to the appropriate area director.
For more information, please visit: www.oshrc.gov/.
To read the NIA News Safety Corner Article—Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Rule Changes, click here.