Compliance February 10, 2005

GOP House Group Files OSHA Reform Package

February 10, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A group of Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives has introduced a package of proposed changes at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to give small employers more rights at the agency.
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A news release from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce asserted that the OSHA package was designed to make sure that OSHA’s “enforcement efforts are fair for small businesses that make good faith efforts to comply with all health and safety laws.”  

The announcement said that the reform package was designed “to remove the arbitrary and unintentional ‘legal traps’ in current OSHA law that hamstring better trust and voluntary cooperation between the agency and employers.”

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The news release said the bills include:

  • The Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act (HR 739) gives the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) additional flexibility to make exceptions to the 15-day deadline for employers to file responses to OSHA citations when a small business misses the deadline by mistake or for good reason.   
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Efficiency Act (HR 740) increases the membership of OSHRC from three to five members to ensure citation cases are reviewed in a timely fashion.   Because a quorum of two (of the three) commissioners is needed for decisionmaking, OSHRC has in the past been unable to act.  
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act (HR 741) restores independent review of OSHA citations by clarifying that OSHRC is an independent judicial entity given deference by courts that review OSHA issues. “The bill restores the original system of checks and balances intended by Congress when it enacted the OSHA law and ensures that OSHRC and not OSHA would be the party who interprets the law and provides an independent review of OSHA citations,” the announcement said.
  • The Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act (HR 742) “encourages OSHA to better assess the merits of a case before it brings unnecessary enforcement actions to court against small businesses.”   Under current law, the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) allows small business owners to recover attorneys’ fees if the owner successfully challenges a workplace safety citation.   However, if OSHA can establish that its enforcement action was “substantially justified” or the result of “special circumstances,” small businesses can be refused attorneys’ fees even if OSHA loses the case in court.

“These OSHA reform bills represent critical steps toward improving working safety and leveling the playing field for small businesses by giving them new tools to fight unjust OSHA citations,” said Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Representative Charlie Norwood (R-Georgia) “Small employers should be spending their time creating new jobs and providing safe workplaces, and less on dealing with unending OSHA-related litigation and the escalating attorneys’ fees that result.”

Administration February 9, 2005

Report: John Hancock Could Soon be Seller or Buyer

September 26, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - An announcement could be forthcoming soon about a potential deal to buy John Hancock Financial Services - possibly by Manulife Financial Corp. - or for Hancock to acquire someone else, according to a news report.
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The Boston Globe reported that John Hancock was in the “advanced stages” of talks with a potential buyer with Manulilfe, Canada’s second-largest life insurer, listed as the prime candidate for the acquisition. Hancock has been in touch with its directors to find out when they can attend a special board meeting – presumably to ratify such a deal, unnamed sources told the newspaper.

The Globe laid out two potential scenarios:

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  • Hancock as seller . By talking so long and so openly about selling the company, Hancock chief executive David D’Alessandro has all but invited bids. The Hancock brand would be just the ticket for Manulife’s stated goal of a major US expansion. Plus Manulife is already building a new US headquarters in Boston. In recent months Hancock has also talked with MetLife Inc., the second largest US life insurer, the unnamed executives told the newspaper. In 1996 MetLife bought Boston’s other large life insurer, New England Financial. In June MetLife said it was buying Hancock’s group life business.
  • Hancock as a buyer . Again, Hancock has been exploring at least two opportunities, said the executives familiar with the strategy: Buying a piece of General Electric Co.’s huge insurance business (last year’s revenue: $23 billion) or Travelers Life & Annuity Co. (2002 net income: $776 million) from giant Citigroup Inc. In either case, Hancock would buy the insurance operations of the company involved by issuing new stock, giving GE or Citigroup a major stake in Hancock. Combined, GE and Hancock would be the biggest player in the country in long-term-care insurance.

Talks With Fleet and Pru

But the bottom line is that D’Alessandro has been looking hard for a deal that works. In May, Hancock and FleetBoston Financial explored combining the two firms to produce a big Boston-based financial services player and Hancock had also held discussions over an eight-month period with Prudential Financial Inc., the Globe said.

Almost from the day Hancock went public in 2000, D’Alessandro has talked about the need to get bigger or sell. While Hancock is the sixth largest publicly traded life insurer, it is tiny in the worldwide financial services industry.

Manulife’s chief executive has been looking for US acquisitions after dropping to number two in Canada following takeovers by his leading rivals. Sun Life Financial Inc., Canada’s largest insurer, bought Clarica Life Insurance Co. last year, while Great-West Lifeco Inc. completed its purchase of Canada Life Financial Corp. last summer.

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