Under Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, covered employers are required to maintain records (on the OSHA 300 form) of work-related injuries and illnesses. OSHA defines the term "illness" broadly, including mental illnesses if the condition was caused or exacerbated by a workplace event. Many employers objected to this requirement, noting difficulty in comparison to physical illnesses of determining the mental condition’s cause. Last week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, concluding that OSHA’s statutory authority does not extend to mandating recording of mental illnesses.

In Exxon Mobil Corp. v. OSHC, OSHA cited the employer for failing to record an employee’s PTSD diagnosis which he attributed to a workplace explosion. The employer appealed, and the Fifth Circuit concluded that the OSH Act’s meaning of "illness" does not include mental illnesses. The court compared definitions of illness in 1970 when the act was passed, and determined that at that time, it did not encompass mental conditions.

The Fifth Circuit also noted that in general, the OSH Act does not give OSHA the authority to investigate workplace conditions that present other than physical dangers to employees. Although this decision’s authority is limited to the Fifth Circuit, it provides employers with a legal basis for excluding mental health conditions from their OSHA 300 log recordkeeping requirements.

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