One safety complaint doesn't justify a full-fledged investigation, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission ruled recently in a precedent-setting decision. A former employee of a Florida company complained to OSHA, alleging defects in the firm's trucks. OSHA inspected the entire facility and found 12 violations, none of them related to the trucks. But the commission held that an inspection based on an employee complaint about a specific hazard must be confined to that hazard. According to the commission, this "exclusionary rule" protects the employer against unreasonable searches that violate the Fourth Amendment. The Labor Department is appealing the decision.
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