§1341 Rights and Protections Under Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970; Procedures for Remedy of Violations

Summary

Requires every employing office and every covered employee to follow the safety and health rules in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (section 5). Employer means an employing office. Employee means a covered employee (this includes Government Accountability Office employees). An employing office also includes the GAO and other named entities that must fix violations. If a rule is broken, the remedy is an order to correct the problem, like the orders used under OSHA. On written request by an employing office or a covered employee, the General Counsel can inspect workplaces, issue citations or notices to the office that must fix a violation, and notify offices that fail to correct problems. If a violation stays uncorrected, the General Counsel can file a complaint with the Office, which goes to a hearing officer and then may be reviewed by the Board. An employing office can ask the Board for a variance from a standard. Either the General Counsel or an aggrieved employing office may seek review in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. If new appropriated funds are needed to fix a violation, correction must occur as soon as possible, but not later than the end of the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the citation is issued or the order requiring correction becomes final and not subject to further review. The Board must write rules to carry out these duties, generally matching the Secretary of Labor’s rules unless the Board gives a written reason to change them, and those rules must say which office must fix each type of violation. At least once each Congress the General Counsel must inspect many congressional and support offices, report the results to congressional leaders and the office responsible for fixes, and issue citations if violations are found. The period January 23, 1995, through December 31, 1996, was set aside for study and correction, with a required inspection and report before July 1, 1996. Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (e)(3) take effect on January 1, 1997, except the GAO and the Library of Congress, for which this section takes effect one year after transmission to Congress of the study under section 1371.