U.S. House Passes Legislation to Rollback OSHA Rule Extending Statute of Limitations for Recordkeeping Violations

On March 1, an AGC-supported resolution passed in the U.S. House disapproving an Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) rule designed to allow OSHA to issue citations for recordkeeping violations beyond the current six-month limit, up to five and a half years. This expansion of the statute of limitations exposes employers to liability for honest and inadvertent paperwork mistakes related to recordkeeping. The U.S. Senate introduced a similar bill (Sponsored by Senator Cassidy (R-La.) and cosponsored by Senators Hatch (R-Utah), Isakson (R-Ga.) and Daines (R-Mont.)) this week with a vote scheduled by April 7. AGC urges the Senate to support the House-passed bill. Please contact your Senators and urge them to support repeal of this burdensome rule.

The December 2016 rule, Clarification of Employer’s Continuing Obligation to Make and Maintain an Accurate Record of Each Recordable Injury and Illness, was issued in response to a federal court ruling that found that OSHA could no longer issue citations beyond the six-month statute of limitation window that is detailed in the OSH Act. The rule is often referred to as the “Volks” rule after the construction company that successfully challenged the rule in court in 2012. For several years OSHA had been operating under the theory that it could issue citations for the entire five-year period during which employers are required to keep records for injuries and illnesses. With this rule, OSHA showed a clear attempt to circumvent the judicial branch and congressional intent with this rule.

For more information, contact Jim Young at youngj@agc.org or Kevin Cannon at cannonk@agc.org.