By Frank Swoboda Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 27, 2000; Page A01

The employers of millions of Americans who "telecommute" will not be held liable for any federal health and safety violations that occur at home offices, according to testimony prepared for Congress by the Labor Department.

At the same time, the Clinton administration has decided that employers are not exempt from liability for hazardous manufacturing work that employees perform in their homes, such as the manufacturing of electronic components or lead fishing lures or the assembly of fireworks  work-at-home activities that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited in recent years.

The testimony, by drawing a sharp distinction between the extension of workplace laws for white-collar telecommuting and blue-collar home manufacturing, represents the administration's definitive policy statement on an issue that has vexed Labor Department policymakers. Labor officials are trying to balance 65-year-old laws enacted during the height of the New Deal and the rise of industrialization with the needs of a 21st-century work force.

Earlier this month it was revealed that OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, had issued a little-noticed "letter of interpretation" in November that said employers would be responsible for federal health and safety violations that occurred in the homes of employees who work at home.

Labor Secretary Alexis Herman formally withdrew the OSHA letter less than 48 hours after it became public, but her action left questions about OSHA's future actions regarding work at home. The congressional testimony scheduled for yesterday  but delayed because of the snowstorm  was designed to clarify future OSHA enforcement efforts.

http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32957-2000Jan26.html

-- John Galt (still@doom.er), January 27, 2000

Answers

Mighty white of 'em.

Yes, that means you, Alexis.

-- (justintime@rightnow.net), January 27, 2000.

Well, with the current administration's pattern of:

1--Slip in tiny story on a major change...

2--Retract if polls drop in 48 hours...

3--Sneak policy change through away from press/public attention....

..I am not comforted by THIS retraction.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 27, 2000.