Let us do our Job! CAL OSHA Inspectors to Appeals Board

A group of 47 CAL OSHA field inspectors, senior and district managers have written a letter of complaint to members of the California OSHA Appeals Board protesting "Board policies and practices that have significantly undermined our ability to do our job of protecting the lives, health and safety of California’s workers." The letter alleges that the Appeals Board has for over four years followed a deliberate policy of scheduling hearings in such a way that it is impossible for inspectors to do their job properly:

"[T]he Board has deliberately over-booked hearing days so that a single judge in the same location and the same time has as many as three or four hearings scheduled. The Board has continued to refuse to even indicate which case will be heard first. The Board has continued to hold hearings at distant locations where worker witnesses have great difficulty in appearing. The Board has continued to deny, or simply ignore, legitimate requests for continuances."

The letter also indicates that the signers have been quiet up until now out of fear of reprisals. One of the signers told us that this fear continues. Kudos to these folks for speaking out in favor of California's hard working people, possibly at the risk of losing their jobs at a time when few people can afford to be unemployed.

Read the full text of the letter here .