A coming reconfiguration of OSHA’s enforcement efforts under a second Trump administration will likely mean fewer legal challenges from industry groups to workplace safety standards but potentially more lawsuits from organized labor.
President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new initiative known as the “Department of Government Efficiency” to “slash excess regulations” has fueled expectations of a major overhaul of how federal agencies operate, including the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
“There is going to be a massive review of what these agencies do and how important these regulations really are,” said Michael Elkins of MLE Law, a labor & employment firm. Musk, he noted, has a direct interest in hampering OSHA regulations considering his Tesla factories fall under the federal agency’s jurisdiction.
Some legal observers anticipate a Trump-era slowdown in new OSHA rules, as well as a reduction in worksite inspections—which could reduce employer-side litigation attacking agency action or its authority. But unions could still sue the agency for stronger safety standards, they said.
Attorneys have already noted labor agencies are set to veer from the enforcement priorities of the past four years. Regarding OSHA, two worker safety rules—the first nationwide proposal to protect workers from high heat and a challenged rule on who can join safety inspectors—are likely on the chopping block.
Pivoting to Business
The US Labor Department is expected to pivot back to a more business-friendly approach next year and face resistance from unions.
The first Trump term saw the agency shrink, according to Jordan Barab—the former deputy assistant secretary for OSHA in the Obama administration.
“There was never an assistant secretary for the whole Trump administration,” Barab said while noting the agency’s budget fell flat, which translated to small cuts when factoring in inflation.
Under the Biden administration, OSHA sought to expand worker protections through measures like a pandemic-era emergency temporary standard for Covid-19 vaccination or testing, and a final rule broadening what types of worker representatives can accompany OSHA officials during inspections.
That approach drew legal challenges, one of which resulted in the withdrawal of the agency’s Covid ETS. That standard hasn’t been dropped as a proposed rule, however: the agency still hopes to make it a permanent standard.
Lawsuits Still Possible
Trump’s approach might face its own court battles, though. It could also spur workplace safety advocates to refocus their efforts on shaping state and local laws.
Barab said anything that could violate the OSH Act—the law giving the federal government the authority to set and enforce safety and health standards for workers—is likely to spark lawsuits from both Democrats and unions.
Workers’ unions can sue to improve OSHA standards, he added.
It’s happened in the past under both Republican and Democratic administrations. In 2020, the AFL-CIO urged a federal appeals court to compel Trump’s OSHA to issue a Covid-19 workplace safety standard.
A few years later during the Biden administration, the AFL-CIO joined a coalition of nursing unions, in taking OSHA to court to revive a Covid rule for health-care workers.
Both legal challenges were ultimately unsuccessful.
But, a court sided with the AFL-CIO against the Reagan administration for initially halting a policy that would allow workers the right to know the names and toxic properties of the chemicals they were exposed to, according to Barab.
The AFL-CIO says it’s prepared to pursue legal action if the Trump administration attempts to repeal, cut back, or abandon laws that keep workers safe.
“We will take action, including legal action, where federal agencies are failing to meet their obligations to worker safety and to uphold protections that ensure every worker can go home unharmed to their families at the end of their shift,” said Rebecca Reindel, AFL-CIO safety and health director.
OSHA’s Resources
In Trump’s first term, the number of OSHA inspectors dropped to 752 in fiscal year 2019—the lowest in its history—before climbing back up. Inspections also declined in that time frame.
But the second Trump administration could bring real opportunity for innovation to its approach to OSHA enforcement because of the populist influence of people like Musk, Phillip B. Russell of Ogletree Deakins said.
“It is way overdue for somebody to hit timeout, take a look at the agency, start with the data and back up from there,” Russell said. “I would take politics out of it—pro-employee, pro-employer—take all that out of it.”
OSHA’s resources should be oriented to industries that have the most hazardous jobs and need the most enforcement, he added.
The president-elect campaigned for more deregulation and less agency power, so there could be less court action as a result of fewer rules and standards being put in place, Elkins noted.
Attacks on Agency
Still, the threat of litigation challenging OSHA’s authority exists, attorneys said.
Allstates Refractory Contractors LLC, for example, sued OSHA in 2021 to overturn 50 years of the agency’s worker safety regulations. It argued Congress delegated too much rulemaking authority to OSHA.
The construction company ultimately lost before district and circuit courts, and the US Supreme Court earlier this year declined to hear its appeal.
Similar cases like this—filed by businesses seeking to reign in federal agencies’ powers—have grown and Elkins noted that the agency could see more under a Trump second term.
“While I don’t think those challenges will succeed, I do think we will see a rollback of agency power, and a rollback of agency regulations,” Elkins said. “The Trump administration will likely support challenges to limit or even eliminate a host of regulatory power.”
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