Prior to re-joining Cozen O’ Connor in 2021, Jim served as the chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Jim was first appointed by President Trump to fill the remaining portion of a vacancy on the commission in May 2017 and was later appointed by the president as chairman of the agency and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2019. As chairman, Jim was in charge of an independent, quasi-judicial federal agency that is not part of OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor and conducts trials and appeals over litigation brought by the U.S. Department of Labor against employers. During Jim’s tenure on the commission, he participated in several landmark decisions including cases involving OSHA’s Process Safety Management Standard and OSHA’s use of the statute’s “General Duty Clause” in prosecuting cases against employers involving workplace violence, heat stress, and other workplace hazards.
Prior to his service with the commission, Jim had a distinguished career in private practice for nearly four decades in labor and employment and workplace safety and health law working with clients in a wide range of industries. From 2000 to 2003, Jim served as vice-president of labor and employment law and deputy general counsel for Comcast. During that time he also served as the corporation’s chief spokesperson at collective bargaining negotiations with the Teamsters, Electrical Workers, and Communication Workers’ unions.
Jim advises clients on high stakes matters before all three branches of government, including regulatory and enforcement matters and litigation involving several administrative agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and various state OSHA offices in cases involving significant citations and litigation as well as the National Labor Relations Board and numerous state and federal courts. He has extensive experience representing employers in union-related matters, including unfair labor practice proceedings, collective bargaining negotiations, grievance/arbitration hearings, and union representation matters.
Jim has significant experience in construction labor matters and has represented members of both Associated General Contractors and Associated Builders and Contractors in unfair labor practice litigation, as well as matters involving multi-employer pension and health and welfare funds and before state regulatory agencies. He has served as national labor and employment counsel for wide range of clients in the transportation/warehousing, steel manufacturing, and health care industries and is recognized as one of the leading authorities in occupational safety and health matters. He is the former management chair of the ABA Occupational Safety and Health Committee of the Labor and Employment Law Section.
Jim is a frequent speaker on workplace safety and health matters and he has spoken before such organizations as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Associated General Contractors, Inc., and various other employer trade associations.
News
August 29, 2023
James Sullivan was quoted in SHRM discussing a new proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Labor to broaden who can be authorized to accompany OSHA compliance officers during workplace inspections.
March 25, 2022
Jim Sullivan was quoted in City & State New York discussing New York City's Mayor Eric Adams lifting the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for performers and athletes while keeping it in place for all other private and public employees.
March 10, 2022
Jim Sullivan spoke with Bloomberg Law about potential legal problems that loom for OSHA's proposed worker heat protection rule.
March 07, 2022
Jim Sullivan spoke with Inside OSHA about a new decision from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission that appears aimed at clarifying the limits of its test for determining when separate entities may be considered a “single employer” in OSHA enforcement actions.
January 13, 2022
Jim Sullivan spoke with KYW Newsradio about the recent Supreme Court decision to block the vaccine-or-test mandate from President Joe Biden’s administration but allow vaccine mandates for most health care workers.
January 12, 2022
Jim Sullivan spoke with Inside OSHA about OSHA's decision in Secretary of Labor v. Knock Out Homes, Inc. which reinstates a Colorado construction company’s appeal of several OSHA citations with a proposed penalty of $41,349, overturning an administrative law judge’s (ALJ) default judgment against the employer over its failure to respond to the proceeding.
December 28, 2021
James Sullivan spoke with Yahoo! finance about the impact the omicron variant is having on employers.
December 23, 2021
Jim Sullivan was quoted in USA Today discussing the latest on the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
December 21, 2021
Jim Sullivan was quoted in Inside OSHA discussing a new decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) that road construction companies must adopt fall-protection measures for employees working from the backs of moving vehicles.
December 20, 2021
Jim Sullivan spoke with Inside OSHA about how OSHA plans to start enforcing its COVID-19 vaccination emergency temporary standard (ETS) on January 10, with employer vaccine policies to take effect February. 9 -- provided employers make “good faith efforts” to comply -- after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit voted 2-1 to dissolve an earlier order staying the rule.
December 07, 2021
Jim Sullivan spoke with Bloomberg Law about New York City's newly announced COVID-19 vaccination mandate for private-sector workers.
November 23, 2021
Jim Sullivan was quoted in Bloomberg Law discussing the OSHA ETS on the COVID-19 vaccine.
November 16, 2021
Jim Sullivan was quoted in SHRM discussing the new OSHA standards in place by the Biden administration with heat-related dangers in the workplace.
November 04, 2021
Jim Sullivan was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer discussing the latest on the emergency safety rules from the Biden administration that workers must be vaccinated by January 4 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
September 16, 2021
James Sullivan was quoted in the Knoxville News Sentinel discussing the challenges companies face with President Biden's COVID-19 mandate.
September 12, 2021
James Sullivan was quoted in Yahoo! News discussing two executive orders that would mandate vaccines for more than two-thirds of working Americans.
September 12, 2021
James Sullivan was quoted in the USA Today discussing President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for firms with 100 or more employees.
September 12, 2021
James Sullivan spoke with Texas News Today about President Biden's COVID-19 vaccination obligations for companies with more than 100 employees.
September 10, 2021
James Sullivan spoke with The Dallas Morning News to discuss if President Biden's new COVID-19 vaccine requirements are legal for private businesses.
April 19, 2021
Jim Sullivan was quoted in Bloomberg Law discussing employers filing appeals of COVID-19 citations with OSHA.
April 05, 2021
Jim Sullivan was quoted in Inside OSHA Online discussing the Biden administration's OSHA plan.
March 25, 2021
Sullivan will be joining the Washington, D.C., office as a member of the Labor & Employment Department and as co-chair of the OSHA-Workplace Safety Practice Group.
Publications
June 08, 2023
When it became apparent yesterday that the wildfire smoke cascading throughout parts of the Northeastern United States was having a serious health effect on anyone outside and exposed to the harmful particulates contained in such smoke, certain outside activities were simply canceled, such as the...
November 17, 2022
In a recent decision in the Eastern District of New York, Walsh v. Community Health Center of Richmond, Inc., et al., 21-CV-3094 (ARR)(TAM), the court held that OSHA has the right to pursue individual damages for a Complainant under Section 11(c) even though a prior federal action brought by...
July 22, 2022
The use of “leased” employees continues to skyrocket. Between 1992 and 2017, it is estimated that the number of people working for employee leasing firms increased 682%, from 341,884 to 2.7 million. There are a variety of reasons companies use leased employees. However, host businesses should be...
March 30, 2022
Jim Sullivan, John Ho, and Anne Greene discuss OSHA's new proposed rules regarding electronic recordkeeping requirements.
January 19, 2022
Anne Greene, John Ho, and Jim Sullivan discuss the Supreme Court decision to allow the CMS vaccine directive to go forward.
January 12, 2022
James Sullivan authored an article about if an unvaccinated employee is a “direct threat” to the health and safety of themselves or others in the workplace.
December 21, 2021
John Ho and Jim Sullivan discuss the Sixth Circuit lifting the Fifth Circuit's stay of OSHA’s general duty COVID Emergency Testing Standard.
December 16, 2021
To state the obvious, the pandemic has resulted in completely unexpected change across the country in so many ways. OSHA’s visibility and role are probably one of the most significant changes to any federal agency. Prior to the pandemic, most businesses outside of specific industries like...
December 09, 2021
John Ho, Janice Agresti, and Jim Sullivan discuss Mayor de Blasio's expansion to the “Key to New York City” program.
November 23, 2021
John Ho and Jim Sullivan discuss Florida Governor DeSantis’s recent legislation banning employers from mandating COVID-19 vaccinations unless several exemptions are offered to employees.
November 15, 2021
As we reported a day after the November 5, 2021, effective date of OSHA’s ETS, the Fifth Circuit issued a temporary stay of the ETS pending further proceedings. On November 12, 2021, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit continued the stay in a 22-page decision that contained numerous quotes and...
November 15, 2021
Ed Langhammer, John Ho, and Jim Sullivan discuss Cal/OSHA agenda item “Proposed Emergency Safety Orders for Adoption,” and how California employers can weigh in on how these regulations will impact them.
November 15, 2021
John Ho and Jim Sullivan discuss the Fifth Circuit's stay of OSHA's ETS and what happens next.
November 05, 2021
OSHA’s long-awaited general industry COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) was officially published today and became effective immediately for employers in those states without “state OSHA” plans. However, employers covered by federal OSHA still have until December 5, 2021, to comply with...
October 28, 2021
On October 27, 2021, OSHA published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPRM”) to initiate a comment period to gather diverse perspectives and expertise on heat stress issues such as heat stress thresholds, heat acclimatization planning, and exposure monitoring. OSHA has been talking about...
September 24, 2021
Jim Sullivan authored an article detailing that six of just nine emergency temporary standards issued by OSHA since the 1970s have been challenged in courts, and only one has been upheld.
September 10, 2021
On September 9, 2021, the Department of Labor announced plans to issue an emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) requiring employers with more than 100 employees to ensure that every employee is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or tests negative every week. Although neither the White House nor the...
September 10, 2021
Jim Sullivan discusses Biden's EO mandating all employers with more than 100 employees require every employee to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to test negative every week.
June 11, 2021
On May 26, 2021, we told our readers that we thought that although an “emergency” no longer existed about OSHA’s need to regulate employers’ handling of the COVID-19 virus, OSHA would nonetheless still issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) due to immense political pressure on the Department...
May 26, 2021
The one question on everyone’s mind is when, if ever, will
employers learn whether OSHA will actually issue the COVID-19 Emergency
Temporary Standard (“ETS”) that OSHA delivered to the White House’s Office of
Management and Budget’s (“OMB”) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(“OIRA”) at...
May 19, 2021
Every business in the United States has been asking itself
these past few days whether to drop any requirements it may have for visitors
or employees to wear face masks since the CDC changed its COVID-19 guidance
related to masks and physical distancing for individuals who are fully
vaccinated on...
May 14, 2021
John Ho, Jim Sullivan, and Anne Greene discuss New York's HERO Act and what employers should do now to comply.
May 10, 2021
On May 5, 2021, Governor Cuomo of New York signed the New York Health and Essential Rights Act (the “Act”) into law which amends the New York Labor Law. The Act creates occupational safety and health standards in the private sector for all airborne infectious diseases, including but not limited to...
April 28, 2021
On
April 26, OSHA sent its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) to the
Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA) for review. OIRA is the regulatory “gatekeeper” that is required, under
various executive orders, to review proposed rules from...
April 26, 2021
John Ho and James Sullivan discuss OSHA's guidance for employers considering requiring employees to get vaccinated.
April 23, 2021
As
more businesses reopen without restrictions and increased availability of
vaccine supplies, many employers contemplate a mandatory vaccine policy. The
decision turns on individualized facts to each organization, such as the employer's
size, the industry, the nature of the employee's duties, and...
April 15, 2021
Both federal and state OSHA regulators
have been regularly citing employers for failure to comply with their
respective respiratory protection standards in connection with COVID-19
inspections and these citations have not been restricted to the healthcare industry.
OSHA's Respiratory Protection...
April 08, 2021
On January 21, 2021, President Biden signed an executive order directing OSHA to consider issuing an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) related to COVID-19. If the ETS is deemed necessary, the executive order instructed OSHA to issue it by March 15, 2021. Now, nearly three and a half weeks past...
Events & Seminars
Past Events
July 25, 2023
- Nashville, TN
November 02, 2022
- Webinar
August 03, 2022
- Webinar
April 28, 2022
- Washington, D.C.
January 13, 2022
- Glendale, AZ
December 10, 2021
- Webinar
November 18, 2021
- Webinar
November 04, 2021
- Webinar
October 05, 2021
- Webinar
September 23, 2021
- Webinar
September 15, 2021
- Webinar
August 31, 2021
- Pittsburgh, PA
August 05, 2021
- Webinar