Chao v. Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission

EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

This case asks us to address the scope of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s (“the Commission”) authority to group, for penalty assessment, violations which were charged and proven on a per-instance basis. The statutory framework grants the Commission the authority to assess penalties, but the framework also requires that the Commission assess a penalty between $5,000 and $70,000 for each willful violation. See 29 U.S.C. § 666(a) and (j). In this case, the administrative law judge (“ALJ”) found numerous willful violations, but grouped the…