The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) interview with employees can be a subject of great mystery for companies. Indeed, Mark Lies II of Seyfarth Shaw concedes, “a lot of confusion has occurred over the respective rights of OSHA, the employer and the employees” during this standard procedure. Yet it’s not something to be taken lightly. Lies says the majority of OSHA citations stem from employee and management interviews.
He’s researched some of the top issues around OSHA interviews for clarification:
- Employees have rights during the interview: Each employee has the right to a one-on-one interview with a compliance officer and can’t suffer any kind of negative consequence from doing so, says Lies. But the employee also has the right to refuse to be interviewed. If he or she does so, OSHA may obtain a subpoena, and the employee again has the right to a lawyer to fight this. The employee may also request an additional person sit in on the interview.
- The employer has rights too: The employer can educate its employees on their rights during an interview and can participate in nonprivate interviews. And since management is the representative of the employer, officials’ interviews can be attended by the employer, says Lies.
- If there is criminal liability at stake: Lies says it’s extremely important to have counsel present if an investigation is being done after a fatal accident or multiple injuries have occurred. At the time of the inspection, “it is impossible to determine whether criminal charges may result months or years later, by which time an employee may have incriminated him/herself in the OSHA interviews and exposed themselves to criminal liability,” warns Lies.
