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The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that OSHA exceeded its statutory authority by requiring employers to record employee mental illnesses on their OSHA logs. In a recent decision, the court concluded that OSHA can only require recordkeeping for physical workplace injuries and illnesses, not mental health conditions such as PTSD.
The case arose after a refinery worker was diagnosed with PTSD following his involvement in emergency response efforts during a major refinery explosion and fire. OSHA cited the company for failing to record the PTSD diagnosis on its OSHA logs.
The Fifth Circuit determined that the statutory context, structure, and historical meaning of the term "illnesses" supported a physical-health-only interpretation. As a result, the court vacated OSHA's mental illness recordkeeping rule (29 C.F.R. § 1904.5(b)(2)(ix)), and set aside both the citation and penalty issued against the company.
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