The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has completed its mailing of the 2017 EEO-1 survey notification letters, according to a Jan. 24 press release issued by the agency. The annual survey requires all private employers with 100 or more employees and federal government contractors or first-tier subcontractors with 50 or more employees and a contract/subcontract of $50,000 or more to file the EEO-1 report. 

The Clean Power Plan proposed and finalized during the Obama administration would increase electricity costs by $40.5 billion while reducing the GDP by an average of $59 billion each year, cutting more than 375,000 jobs by 2030, ABC told the Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 16. ABC submitted comments in support of the agency’s proposed rule to repeal the 2015 rule.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced that covered employers can now electronically report their calendar year 2017 Form 300A data through OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA). Covered establishments are required to submit the information by July 1, 2018. Learn which establishments are covered by this requirement and need to provide their 2017 data through OSHA’s ITA.

Over the last year, the Trump administration has taken major steps to roll back burdensome rules and regulations issued by the Obama administration. In his first two months in office, President Trump signed Executive Order 13777, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” and Executive Order 13771, “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” which create regulatory reform task forces to remove burdensome regulations and prevent agencies from issuing unnecessary regulations with a so-called “one in, two out” policy. 

On Dec. 14, the Trump administration released its Regulatory Plan and Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions. The agenda lists upcoming rulemakings and other regulatory actions from each agency that the administration expects to release through the end of the year and in 2018. 

On Dec. 19, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued several fact sheets that provide guidance on the respirable crystalline silica standard for construction. The fact sheets include an overview of the silica standard as well as provide information to help employers comply. 

The National Labor Relations Board recently issued decisions that are favorable to the employer community. On Dec. 14, the Board overruled both the 2015 decision in Browning-Ferris Industries as well as the Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia case. On Dec. 15, the Board overruled the decision in Specialty Healthcare, which allowed for the formation of so-called 'micro’ bargaining units.

On Dec. 18, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced in a press release that they will continue accepting 2016 OSHA Form 300A data through the Injury Tracking Application (ITA) until midnight on Dec. 31, 2017. OSHA will not take enforcement action against those employers who submit their reports after the Dec. 15, 2017 deadline but before Dec. 31, 2017 final entry date. Starting Jan. 1, 2018, the ITA will no longer accept the 2016 data.

Chuck Goodrich, president of Gaylor Electric, Inc., explained the Trump administration’s regulatory rollback is giving construction companies more efficiency and they don’t feel like they are “under attack” from the federal government. According to Goodrich’s presentation, experts say President Trump is on pace to put out fewer rules than the “reigning deregulation champion,” President Ronald Reagan.

Under the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Electronic Injury Reporting and Anti-Retaliation final rule (also known as Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses) certain employers are required to electronically submit the information from their completed 2016 Form 300A by Dec. 15. Information on electronic reporting is available on the DOL's website.