2nd Circuit Rejects Labor Department’s Appeal of Workplace Penalty Reduction

NEW YORK — The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has denied review to federal safety officials whose efforts to increase fines for what it found to be repeated workplace safety violations at a residential healthcare facility were rejected by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Solis v. Loretto-Oswego Residential Health Care Facility, No. 11-888-ag (2nd Cir.).

The Circuit Court said Aug. 13 in reviewing the arguments that it would not express an opinion on whether the Commission properly applied its “single employer” test when assessing penalties for violations at one of several affiliated healthcare centers.

At issue were citations …