You were warned that tyrants just don't wake up one morning and say they're tired of tyrannizing people. They always seek to expand their control over people, particularly if they encounter little or no resistance. Last week, business and public outrage forced Labor Secretary Alexis Herman to withdraw the ruling. OSHA mandates many other workplace health and safety requirements, such as handicap toilets and drinking fountains, fire sprinkler systems, clean-air requirements, and no smoking rules. The question is how OSHA would enforce such regulations in the growing home workplace, where nearly 20 million Americans regularly work at home.
Several possibilities come to mind.
OSHA officials could obtain warrants to inspect your home for health and safety violations. They could slap you with fines for workplace health violations, such as allowing someone to smoke indoors. Another compliance possibility is that OSHA might require your boss to make periodic inspections of your home for workplace health and safety violations. Nobody should be surprised by the audacity of Department of Labor tyrants. After all, we have ceded Washington the right to control our lives in the name of safety, health-care costs and protecting children.