A federal appellate court Wednesday affirmed the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s constitutional authority to set workplace safety standards.
In a decision Wednesday affirming a district court ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that the Occupational Safety and Health Act passes constitutional muster and that OSHA is within its designated authority to regulate safety in the workplace.
The appeal was brought by Allstates Refractory Contractors LLC, a Waterville, Ohio-based company that faced numerous OSHA citations and later challenged the agency’s authority to set “reasonably necessary or appropriate” workplace safety standards, claiming it violated the U.S. Constitution’s nondelegation doctrine.
In affirming the lower court, the 6th Circuit wrote that the Occupational Safety and Health Act provides an “overarching framework” designed to guide OSHA’s discretion in setting workplace safety standards and that its authority to set such standards falls within constitutional limits previously upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The case is Allstates Refractory Contractors LLC vs. Walsh et al.