Section 80 Informant?s Privilege

• Library: Employer-Employee Law 2008

The closed-door nature of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) meeting with nonmanagerial employees (i.e., OSHA’s right to meet privately with employees) extends beyond the context of an OSHA inspection. When litigating OSHA issues with the Secretary of Labor (“the Secretary”), employers may be confronted with the informer’s privilege.

The informer’s privilege is the well-established right of the government to withhold from disclosure the identity of persons furnishing information of violations of the law to law enforcement officers. The privilege applies to proceedings before the Commission. . . . The justification for the privilege is the public interest in the free flow of information to the government concerning violations of law and protection of informants from retaliation. The privilege is qualified, however, and where the...