Rules Committee Highlights Includes Employment Issues

Several rules important to employers were discussed during the Administrative Rules Review Committee (ARRC) this month. The rules regarding the use of hair for private sector drug testing (ARC 3392C) were formally adopted. Additionally, the Department of Revenue rules you read about in September are final.

The Division of Workers’ Compensation at Iowa Workforce Development brought forth a noticed rule related to the vocational rehabilitation portion of HF 518 that passed in March. ABI commented to the department and also in-person at the rules committee regarding some differences in definitions between the code and ARC 3414C rule.

Another rule proposed was an increase in OSHA penalties (ARC 3415C). The rules are required as a result of legislation that passed during the legislative session to ensure Iowa’s OSHA program complies with the Federal law. We want to make ABI members aware of this, as the rules will dramatically increase penalties for violations. Below is a section of the rule regarding violations.

• Willful violation – The penalty for each willful violation shall not be less than $8,908 and shall not exceed $124,709
• Repeated violation – The penalty for each repeated violation shall not exceed $124,709
• Serious violation – The penalty for each serious violation shall not exceed $12,471
• Other-than-serious violation – The penalty for each other-than-serious violation shall not exceed $12,471
• Failure to correct violation – The penalty for failure to correct a violation shall not exceed $12,471 per day.

Those are the civil penalties being proposed by the labor commissioner, which would be on or after Jan. 27, 2018. If you have any comments or questions about this rule, please contact Brad Hartkopf at bhartkopf@iowaabi.org.