Agency Attacked for Approving Workplace Regulation During Shutdown

Democrats and employee-rights groups question the timing of a rule that eases workplace injury reporting requirements

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is coming under fire from Democrats for greenlighting a rule easing workplace injury reporting requirements for employers as an essential measure during the partial federal government shutdown.

The Labor Department rule was cleared by the government’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs—the final hurdle for new regulations before they take effect—on Jan. 17.

OIRA wasn’t funded during the partial shutdown, limiting it to urgent work such as that needed to protect human life or property, or to support funded programs that would be “significantly damaged in the absence of immediate performance of the unfunded, related activity,” according to an Office of Management and Budget document issued in December.

“It is notable that despite the many important issues being neglected during this partial government shutdown, the administration found time to finalize a rule that shields employers from accountability for the health and safety of their employees,” Rep. Bobby Scott (D., Va.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said in a statement.

The Office of Management and Budget, parent agency of the OIRA, operated with about 161 of its 488 staffers during the shutdown, including political appointees, according to its shutdown plan. The OMB didn’t respond to a question about how many OIRA staffers were furloughed during the shutdown.

A senior OMB official said the rule approval was legal because the Labor Department was funded and the rule was time sensitive.

The Labor Department declined to comment.

Sam Berger, a senior adviser for the liberal group Center for American Progress, said the approval was a clear violation of shutdown rules.

“It’s not legal for an agency without funding [OIRA] to bring people in to do work to support the day-to-day operations of another agency that is funded,” said Mr. Berger, who was on the OMB team that provided guidance to agencies during the 2013 government shutdown under President Obama.

The measure approved during the shutdown—the “Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses” rule—takes effect Feb. 25.

The measure says companies don’t have to report individual employee injuries to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, reversing an Obama administration rule from 2016. Companies still must keep an internal log of employee injuries but only have to submit general summary reports. The Trump administration suspended the Obama rule before it was implemented.

Patricia Smith, senior counsel for the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group, said the rule could have waited.

“It’s not about the what the funded agencies can do. If you say that this is essential to the funded activities, why is publishing this rule now, and not two weeks later or three weeks later?” said Ms. Smith, who drafted the Labor Department’s 2013 shutdown plan.

Write to Heidi Vogt at heidi.vogt@wsj.com

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