National Association of Home Builders v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (defendant) amended its health and safety standards for the use of respirators and associated training to clarify that an employer’s failure to provide respirators or training when applicable would constitute a separate violation for each employee who did not receive the respirator or training. The rulemaking was in response to a decision of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (commission), an independent tribunal that hears employer objections to citations issued by the United States secretary of labor (secretary). In that case, an employer had hired 11 workers to renovate a building containing asbestos but did not train the workers or provide them with respirators. The secretary charged the employer with 11 violations of the training standard and 11 violations of the respirator standard. The commission rejected the secretary’s employee-by-employee approach and found that the OSHA standards obligated the employer to implement a single training program and to provide respirators to the employees as a group. Thus, only two violations had occurred. The commission also noted that, if desired, the secretary could draft clearer standards to prescribe that violations would be cited on an individualized basis. The National Association of Home Builders and two other trade associations (plaintiffs) petitioned for judicial review of the amended rule, arguing that OSHA was not authorized under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (act) to specify units of prosecution because that power was vested in the commission.