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Landmark OSHA decision helps North Carolina farmers
Story Date: 1/17/2014
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Source: PRESS RELEASE, 12/20/13
The recent decision in Commissioner of Labor v. Burch Equipment, Inc. sends a strong signal to farmers in North Carolina that general industry standards (which apply to factories and industrial operations) do not apply to farms which perform post-harvest activities. The ruling reverses a prior enforcement decision and related citations by the North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which would have required farmers to spend millions of dollars to ensure that their operations complied with the general industry standards. North Carolina’s Commissioner of Labor does not intend to appeal the decision.
Ogletree Deakins attorneys Tom Farr and Michael McKnight won this important case. North Carolina’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration had attempted to apply the general industry standards to Burch Equipment, Inc., arguing that the company had become “industrial” by mechanizing its grading, curing, and packing process. Farr and McKnight, representing Burch Equipment, Inc., successfully argued that the general industry standards did not apply.
No other decision squarely addresses the application of the general industry standards to farms as clearly as this one does. The decision effectively means that North Carolina OSHA enforcement officers cannot enforce the general industry standards on farmers simply because those farmers perform post-harvest activities such as washing, waxing, cleaning, curing, or packaging in order to sell the crops or produce they grow. Further, under this decision, OSHA may not treat a farm the same way it treats a factory simply because the farmer has mechanized these post-harvest processes. The decision also protects farmers who resell crops or produce grown by other farmers (in addition to primarily selling their own) from being treated by OHSA as wholesalers.
Additionally, the decision emphasized that OSHA must ensure that employers receive fair notice regarding how OSHA regulations will be applied. Employers who are fined as a result of novel or unique applications of an OSHA standard now have additional precedent to use in order to argue that the application of the standard was unconstitutional because they lacked fair notice that the standard could be applied to them.
Farmers, however, must still ensure that their work environments are safe and healthy and comply with the OSHA Agricultural Standards, which were designed specifically for farms. Although NC OSHA may not apply the general industry standards to farms simply because of their post-harvest activities, it remains unclear whether a farm that performs any degree of cooking, processing, or other activities that may change the character of crops or produce is subject to the general industry standards, if those activities were required to sell the crops or produce.
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