The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced on October 31, 2023 that they’ll be strengthening their partnership with OSHA on referrals, sharing information, training, and outreach. The Memorandum of Understanding allows OSHA and NLRB to work together more efficiently to enforce labor laws and protect the rights of workers.
Assistant Secretary for OSHA Doug Parker stated, “Everyone should be able to exercise their legal rights in the workplace without fear of losing their job or other forms of punishment.” He noted that the partnership will expand the capacity of both agencies to protect workers raising concerns about workplace violations or retaliatory activity.
This arrangement is likely to increase overall understanding of workers’ rights under federal anti-retaliation and whistleblower protection laws. The two organizations have built a fact sheet to help workers understand their rights and what recourse they have and what recourse they have if those rights are infringed upon. You can find that fact sheet here.
It shouldn’t be news to employers that you can’t (and shouldn’t) retaliate against employees for exercising their rights when it comes to workplace safety. If you don’t already have this poster alongside all of your other required communications to employees, you can order one for free here. We’re sharing the news of this partnership because it stands to amplify the already aggressive stance we’ve seen from OSHA over the last two years.
