Musk Comes to DOL and Corporate America Takes Over OSHA

Something Elon This Way Comes

It was only a matter of time. Numerous sources report that Elon Musk and his little DOGE friends will make his first visit to the Department of Labor around 4:00 this afternoon.   For Department of Labor employees,  getting a visit from Elon is probably about as desirable as a synagogue getting a visit from Herman Goering.

According to labor reporter Kim Kelly, “DOL workers have been ordered to give DOGE access to whatever they ask for—or risk termination. ‘We’re supposed to stop everything we’re doing and do whatever the DOGE kids ask… It feels dirty and illegal.'”

This is bad for any number of reasons. Obviously, any interference with OSHA’s operations will endanger the health and lives of workers across the country.  And then there’s access to confidential information — workers often file confidential OSHA complaints or talk confidentially to OSHA inspectors during investigations.  OSHA also collects and publicizes severe injury and illness data, as well as detailed information concerning workplace incidents that cause serious injuries or fatalities. There is an enormous amount of personal information in those reports that OSHA is required to keep secret.

For Department of Labor employees,  getting a visit from Elon is probably about as desirable as a synagogue getting a visit from Herman Goering.

OSHA also enforces 25 whistleblower statutes, not just for OSHA, but for EPA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, DOT, food safety, Sarbanes-Oxley and many others. And let’s not forget other DOL agencies like Wage and Hour which deals with child labor, wage theft and other issues.

Almost everything that the Bureau of Labor Statistics does is confidential,  including injury, illness and fatality reporting. They also calculate the inflation rate, employment and unemployment statistics and other information is so confidential that reporters are required to enter a SKIFF in order to receive the information which can directly affect investment decisions and stock market prices.

Would Elon and Trump use a takeover of BLS to cover up unfavorable economic statistics?  A couple of weeks ago, that would have seemed impossible. Today is seems more than likely.

And of course every DOL agency has confidential personnel information for all employees — as well as any enforcement cases they’ve worked on.

Musk is, of course, no friend of labor. He has filed a lawsuit arguing that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional, and vigorously fought an organizing campaign at Tesla several years ago.

Elon is liable to be in a great mood tomorrow. I hear OSHA just cited Tesla for an electrocution death in Texas last August. (I can’t verify that because OSHA is issuing no press releases.)  The worker was not a Tesla employee, but worked for a contractor, Belcan Services. Is the citation related to Musk’s visit today?  Who knows?

And in case you’re in the neighborhood and interested in showing DOL employees your support, there’s a demonstration at the DOL building tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile….

NAM Moves into OSHA

OSHA apparently has a new political  appointee: Amanda Wood Laihow has been appointed OSHA’s Deputy Assistant Secretary (and presumably Acting Assistant Secretary). Yes, my old job. No official announcement has been made yet.

Laihow was a Commissioner on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) from 2020 to 2023. Laihow was renominated to OSHRC by Biden, but the Senate never acted. OSHRC decides contests of citations or penalties resulting from OSHA inspections.

Before her work at OSHRC, she was director of labor and employment policy for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), where she handled OSHA issues. Needless to say, NAM has never been a friend of workers or OSHA.

I don’t know a lot about her, but people who do know her say she’s not horrible. It could have been worse (and may be worse when they get around to nominating an Assistant Secretary.)

Stay tuned.