A federal court has ordered a Boston behavioral health facility to pay the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) $30,515.63 in attorney fees after failing to comply with an OSHA issued subpoena for documents.
In 2019 OSHA issued a subpoena to the facility as part of a workplace violence inspection. In addition to other documents, the subpoena requested video footage of workplace violence incidents involving employees at the facility. After failing to comply, the Department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor petitioned the court to enforce the subpoena for the requested video.
The federal court found that the company’s opposition was not “substantially justified” and ordered them to comply with the subpoena, and to pay the Department’s attorney fees incurred in responding to their arguments.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act authorizes OSHA to issue subpoenas to request necessary documents as part of an OSHA inspection. If a recipient fails to comply, the department may then move to enforce the subpoena in federal district court.
Regional Solicitor of Labor Maia Fisher in Boston stated, “The court made clear that there can be significant consequences for a recipient that opposes OSHA subpoena compliance without substantial justification. The law makes a clear distinction between good faith arguments and those that lack merit. If a recipient chooses to engage in the latter, the recipient should expect to be held accountable.”
OSHA Regional Administrator Galen Blanton stated, “OSHA’s mission is to seek to ensure a healthy and safe workplace for every employee. To do that, OSHA must be able to obtain and evaluate all evidence that illustrates a workplace’s potentially hazardous conditions. The court’s decision supports this.”
Compliance Perspective
Issue
OSHA requires compliance with their guidelines and regulations from each facility to ensure that all healthcare workers have a safe environment. This includes providing additional documents or video recordings as requested. Failure by a facility to follow OSHA guidelines and regulations or requests may result in citations and other penalties.
Discussion Points
- Review your policies and procedures for compliance with OSHA requirements and inspections, including responding to requests for additional documents and video recordings. Update your policy as needed.
- Train all appropriate staff on OSHA requirements and inspection processes, including compliance with OSHA’s requests for any additional documents or video recordings. Document that the trainings occurred and file the signed documents in each employee’s education file.
- Periodically audit to ensure that staff at all levels understand the scope of OSHA guidelines and are following them. Should OSHA conduct an inspection at your setting, audit to ensure that all corrective action plans and requests for additional information are processed in a timely and complete manner.
