Legal Focus

The General Duties Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), says that “[e]ach employer shall furnish … employees … a place of employment … free from recognized hazards that are … likely to cause … serious physical harm to … employees”, 29 U.S.C. § 654, 5(a). Recently, OSHA fined a York, PA healthcare provider $98,000 because OSHA found that the employer did not properly respond to an employee’s request for help with treating violent patients. This article will discuss wh...

The General Duties Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), says that “[e]ach employer shall furnish … employees … a place of employment … free from recognized hazards that are … likely to cause … serious physical harm to … employees”. 29 U.S.C. § 654, 5(a). Recently, OSHA fined a York, PA healthcare provider $98,000 because OSHA found that the employer did not properly respond to an employee’s request for help with treating violent patients. This article will discuss wh...

On May 12, 2016 OSHA published a final rule on reporting workplace injuries and illnesses that affects most school bus contractors. The OSHA final rule requires employers in certain industries to electronically submit the safety information which they are already required to collect and keep manually. Now, OSHA will post this information on its publicly accessible website.

On April 17, 2016 Governor Tom Wolf signed the medical marijuana bill (Pennsylvania Senate Bill 3) into law, making Pennsylvania the 24th state in the union to legalize the drug for medicinal purposes. According to the law, there are 17 conditions for which marijuana could be used to treat, ranging from chronic pain to epilepsy to cancer. The law will allow up to 25 growers/processors and up to 150 dispensary locations. Because these new enterprises must go through rigorous steps to establish th...

Who is hourly and who is salary in your organization? That could all change soon. In July, 2015 the Department of Labor (DOL) gave notice of a proposed rule making that would increase the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) minimum salary threshold for employee exemptions from overtime protections. The proposed change is dramatic enough to affect 5 million workers and require most employers to restructure the nature of jobs and their workforce to comply with the Act. The changes are expected to be p...

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The Federal District Court in Pennsylvania recently confirmed that drivers, aides, and schools are held to a heightened duty or standard of care when transporting special needs students because such students are more vulnerable to harm. The recent case of K.M. v Chichester School District, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16416, explained that a bus driver’s and aide’s error in leaving an autistic child on the bus at the end of a run and the related lack of appropriate training and policies amounted to “...