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Abstract

Medical residents fall into a category of workers perpetually overlooked by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) due to their dual role as employee and trainee. Despite OSHA’s knowledge of the often life-threatening safety and health hazards medical residents face in the workplace pursuant to their uniquely arduous working conditions—most notably their duty hours—it has declined repetitiously to exercise its authority under the Occupational Safety and Health Act to intervene. While OSHA’s past failure to intervene should not hinder it from exercising its statutory authority to protect medical residents in the workplace today, SCOTUS’ recent efforts to curb administrative action under its major questions doctrine likely render any action in this previously unregulated area futile. Still, present-day action by OSHA and a subsequently well-publicized SCOTUS rejection of such action has the potential to spur a systemic movement capable of catalyzing the desired change, albeit via an alternative mechanism. It follows that OSHA should still act to regulate the medical resident workplace, notwithstanding inevitable SCOTUS scrutiny, because its very attempt to do so can ultimately result in the changes necessary to further protect medical residents from falling victim to the unique working conditions plaguing their profession.

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