OSHRC is retaining all current Atlanta region employees but reducing the total square footage of the physical office space located in the Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center, resulting in a significant cost-savings in rent.  In addition, Atlanta’s three administrative law judges and attorney-advisor will have the option to telework on a full-time basis from their Atlanta region residences.  These employees will also have the option to relocate to the agency’s National Office in Washington, D.C. The incumbent legal assistant will continue working in the Atlanta Regional Office’s reduced space, while a second legal assistant will be hired and assigned to the National Office.  Both legal assistants will provide administrative and legal assistance support for Atlanta personnel.  A lead legal assistant position, which is currently vacant, will be eliminated. The planned completion date for the space reduction is December 16, 2018.

“These changes will enable OSHRC to operate more effectively and efficiently while minimizing the impact upon affected employees who further our sole and important statutory mandate of serving as an administrative court providing fair and expeditious resolution of disputes involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, employers charged with violations of Federal safety and health standards, and employees or their representatives,” said OSHRC Chairman Heather L. MacDougall.

While at one time OSHRC had more than a half-dozen regional offices, changes in technology and the ease of air travel have reduced the need for a regional presence in this area. Therefore, the longer-term strategy, solely through attrition, is to reshape OSHRC’s physical footprint and consolidate the Atlanta Regional Office’s operations into the National Office—leaving one Regional Office in Denver, Colorado, which remains mission-critical to best serving the parties appearing before the agency in the Western United States. As vacancies occur in the Atlanta region, these positions will be filled in the National Office.

Today, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) announced its plan to reshape its Atlanta, Georgia Regional Office. OSHRC, created under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, is an independent Federal agency that functions as an administrative court. The reshaping of OSHRC’s Atlanta Regional Office complies with President Donald Trump’s actions requiring agencies to reform and reorganize to make the Federal Government more responsive and accountable to the American people. OSHRC’s reshaping effort will create cost-savings of American taxpayer dollars and more efficiently serve its mission.