In a sharply worded letter sent March 30 to Silas Shawver, staff counsel for the California Department of Industrial Relations, NFIB Policy Director Tim Taylor called the Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s proposed amendments to one of DIR’s regulations “unnecessary, harmful, and legally questionable.”

The proposed amendment, Representative and Representative Authorized by Employees During Workplace Inspections, exceeds the Division’s authority, according to Taylor, “and would impose unwarranted burdens on small businesses, making workplaces neither healthier nor safer.”

The four-page letter breaks down NFIB’s opposition under four subheadings:

— The Proposed Rule Exceeds Cal/OSHA’s Statutory Authority

— Automatic Union Access to Non-Union Workplaces is Unwarranted and Unlawful

— The Proposed Rule is Inconsistent with Constitutionally Protected Property Rights

— The Proposed Rule Imposes Unwarranted Burdens on Small Business.

“California’s small businesses want safe workplaces,” writes Taylor in the letter’s conclusion. “They also need predictable and balanced enforcement. Proposed section 331.8 undermines those goals by expanding access to inspections beyond Cal/OSHA’s delegated statutory limits, deputizing third-party representatives and exposing employers to unnecessary risk. For these reasons, NFIB requests that Cal/OSHA withdraw proposed section 331.8.”