Chamber-Backed Bills Vital to Small Business Success

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce applauded the House Education and Workforce Committee for approving four bills that would improve the ability of small businesses to get a fair hearing when challenging an OSHA citation.

"These are common sense reforms that will make important improvements in the way small businesses work with OSHA," said Randel Johnson, Chamber vice president of labor policy. "The measures are a good first step to give small businesses better ways to contest questionable citations, recoup fees and expedite the appeals process."

The four narrow reforms are identical to bills that passed the House last May with bipartisan support. Together, they will go a long way to help protect small employers against frivolous OSHA citations without sacrificing health and safety protections for employees.

The Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act (H.R. 739) provides the OSHA Review Commission flexibility to allow employers to contest citations beyond the current 15-day period, for reasons of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Efficiency Act (H.R. 740) expands the number of sitting OSHA Review Commission members to reduce the case backlog and quicken the process of hearing an employer's contest of a citation.

The Occupational Safety and Health Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act (H.R. 741) gives the OSHA Review Commission the final authority on interpretation of cases. This restores the Commission's independence by having courts defer to the Review Commission, rather than OSHA, on interpretations the law.

The Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act (H.R. 742) makes it easier for small business to recover attorneys fees if they successfully contest an OSHA citation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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