Update: OR OSHA publishes final rules governing the right to refuse dangerous work
Following a rulemaking process that began in June, Oregon OSHA recently published its final rules to implement the newly passed SB 907, the right to refuse hazardous work. OEC sat on the rulemaking advisory committee alongside our partners Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, PCUN, OR Food Bank, AFL-CIO, and Climate Jobs and advocated for the strongest language possible in the face of strong representation and pushback from business interests.
A Review: What is the Right to Refuse Hazardous Work?
SB 907 clarified a worker’s right to:
- Reasonably refuse to do work that can cause them death, serious impairment, or injury– such as unsafe equipment, toxic chemical spills, and other environmental factors.
- Leave or refuse to report to a worksite due to extreme natural disasters, active evacuations, and acts of criminal violence.
- Use sick time, PTO, or vacation time to protect pay in situations where it is too dangerous to work.
- Be protected from retaliation under Oregon’s already-established rebuttable presumption if they exercise this right in good faith and act as a reasonable person would.
SB 907 allows employers the opportunity to remove or fix hazardous conditions or reassign a worker, in which case the worker would not have a right to refuse. Essentially this law doesn’t provide an unfettered right to refuse to work just because a worker doesn’t feel like it. It is intended to provide protections that meet the realities faced by workers in Oregon.
So then, what is in the final rules?
- Strength: Most of SB 907’s intentions were clarified.
- Shortcoming: The term “hazardous conditions” remains undefined and doesn’t clearly name environmental harms as an example of a circumstance in which a worker can express their right to refuse dangerous work.
In the face of strong pressure from business interests, OR OSHA did not specify specific examples of what constitutes “hazardous conditions” in their final rule (published here). The key component of their rule reads:
“…with no reasonable alternative and in good faith, the employee refused to perform a work task that would expose the employee to a hazardous condition that presents a real risk of death or serious physical harm and a reasonable person would agree under the circumstances all of the following conditions are met.”
We continue to believe that specifying examples of workplace hazards (including. biological, environmental, and human-made threats) in plain rule language would clarify and add context to a layperson’s knowledge of the rule.
However, a recently published decision document specifies that “Oregon OSHA is committed to developing supplemental materials that help employees understand their rights under this rule, including a reiteration that environmental hazards (as long as they meet the conditions set forth in the rule) are applicable to the rule.”
What is next?
Rights are only effective if they are accessible and easy to understand. People should not have to be lawyers or policy experts to understand their rights. Having to look at a decision document and additional “supplemental materials” makes it harder for laypersons, especially people who don’t speak English or who speak English as a second language, to understand the full spectrum of their rights- as opposed to just including such language in the rule itself.
We are committed to working with our partners to advance public education and outreach to ensure that workers understand that their right to refuse hazardous work is protected in cases of extreme heat, smoke, and other environmental threats.
OEC’s work to advance public health is made possible by individual supporters across the state. Make a difference. Become a member of OEC today.
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