OSHA failed to prove employment status of roofing workers not using fall protections

The Occupational Health and Safety Commission on Monday vacated four citations totaling $78,791 in fines against a family-owned construction company following several inspections of work sites in 2023, finding that roofing workers not using safety equipment were independent contractors.

As documented in Secretary of Labor v. Pettengill Family Restoration LLC, the main point of contention was whether the workers were employees of the company. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration had cited Pettengill for several violations for failure to use fall protection and other safety equipment, some of which were named as “repeat” offenses. The company named in earlier citations was owned by the same person and operated as Pettengill Construction, which did not contest the earlier citations.

In determining whether the workers were independent contractors or employees, of which Pettengill would have had constructive knowledge of day-to-day safety lapses, an administrative law judge weighed such factors as control over work hours and hiring assistants, pay, and insurance and benefits. The judge, in what became a final decision of the OSHRC, said that the issues weighed in favor of independent contractor status and that the Secretary of Labor failed to prove otherwise.

“There was no evidence in this record that (the company) ever directed any work on a job, supervised any worker or worksite at issue in this case, set any hours, schedules, or conditions of work, or in any way monitored or inspected—or even visited—actual construction sites where work was being done by the framers,” the ruling states. “Additionally, (the company) did not have any supervisors onsite such that knowledge could be imputed to (it).”