The Biden Administration is admitting that there is not enough OSHA inspectors to impose his mandate so officials inside his administration are encouraging Americans to turn on each and report them to the administration.
“There is no army of OSHA inspectors that is going to be knocking on employers door or even calling them,” said Debbie Berkowitz, a former OSHA chief of staff who is a fellow at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor. “They’re going to rely on workers and their union representatives to file complaints where the company is totally flouting the law.’’
First off, notice how the administration is framing this, it is not a “law” it’s a supposed to be a temporary rule. The mandate was not passed by congress and OSHA’s own data found the rule wasn’t necessary.
Top officials inside OSHA are encouraging workers to report their employers and promise to keep it confidential.
“You fill out a form or somebody fills out a form for you,” said Berkowitz, the former OSHA chief of staff. “And that’s all workers have. If OSHA decides not to inspect, that’s it. Or if OSHA inspects but decides not to cite the employer, that’s it. … So it’s a pretty weak law.’’
It’s not a law!
Should companies fail to abide by Biden’s mandate they could initially see fines up to $14,000 per violation and continued violations could be at least four times higher.
However, the mandate has already hit a roadblock. One day after the administration announced the rule a federal court temporarily paused the order ruling it poses “grave statutory and constitutional issues.”
Despite the court ruling the Biden administration is telling employers to ignore the court.
“People should not wait,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing. “They should continue to move forward and make sure they’re getting their workplace vaccinated.”
