Interesting parallels between this case and Republican attempts to pass legislation that would award legal fees to companies who win appeals of OSHA citations.

Of course, in workplace safety cases the situation is slightly reversed. Thanks to business associations like the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the cited companies are more likely to have "access to sophisticated counsel" than OSHA does. Because of quirks in the law, cited companies also have many more tools to challenge citations than unions or workers have to defend or strengthen their protections.

Second, while the Republican sponsors of this bill may like to acuse OSHA of "objectively unreasonable and frivolous" citations, if you look at the record, it is not just companies that allegedly violate "obscure" or "complicated" or "inflexible" OSHA standards that appeal their cases, but also companies that kill their employees. Even where cases are overturned (usually due to technical violations or re-interpretation of OSHA procedures by Republican appointees), such reversals are almost never blamed on "unreasonable and frivolous" citations that might justify compensating the defendants.

Finally, the purpose of this legislation is not to deter huge companies from harassing the little guy, but to deter OSHA from exercising its Congressional mandate: to defend workers rights to a safe workplace.

Even in these days of a weakened, underfunded business-friendly OSHA, the discussion in Congress and in the halls of the Chamber, NAM and NFIB are all about rescuing small business from the clutches of big government (OSHA), rather than saving the lives and preserving the health of those whose only crime is to come to work in the morning. This might be a good time to start refocusing the discussion back to the federal government's role in protecting the rights of American workers to come home safely at the end of their day.