United States Eighth Circuit

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission abused its discretion in determining that the Secretary of Labor's controlling employer citation policy conflicted with DOL regulation 29 C.F.R. section 1910.12(a) where: 1) the DOL regulation is unambiguous in that it does not preclude OSHA from issuing citations to employers for violations when their own employees are not exposed to any hazards related to the violations; and 2) even if the regulation was ambiguous, the court would defer to the Secretary's reasonable interpretation of the regulation. Petition for review. The order is vacated and remanded for further proceedings.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/26/2009
• Published 02/26/2009

Judges

• GRUENDER, Circuit Judge., Before BYE, BEAM and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Michael Patrick Doyle, argued, Washington, DC, for petitioner., Victoria Louise Bor, argued, Washington, DC, for Amici on Behalf of Petitioner Building and Construction Trades Department AFL-CIO, and National Construction Alliance.


• For Appellees:
  
• Robert E. Rader, Jr., argued, Dallas, TX, for respondent., Arthur Grushkow Sapper, argued, Robert C. Gombar and James A. Lastowka, on the brief, Washington, DC, for Amici on Behalf of Respondent Associated General Contractors of America, National Association of Home Builders, Associated Builders and Contractors, National Federation of Independent Businesses Legal Foundation, Contractors' Association of Greater New York, Texas Association of Builders, and Greater Houston Builders Association.