Alaska Employment Law

Court holds that OSHA pre-empts state pro-gun laws

Alaska lightly restricts an employer’s right to control guns at work.  Employers may bar guns from the central workplace, but have less control over guns in their employees’ parked cars.   AS 18.65.800.  Other states place tighter restrictions on employers.  SHRM reports that Oklahoma “prohibits employers from establishing policies banning employees from bringing weapons onto company property.” 

A federal judge has now held that the Oklahoma statute is preempted by OSHA.

 [T]he Amendments [the Oklahoma weapons laws] conflict with and are preempted by the OSH Act, which requires employers to abate hazards in their workplaces that could lead to death or serious bodily harm and which encourages employers to prevent gun-related workplace injuries. The Amendments criminally prohibit an effective method of reducing gun-related workplace injuries and cannot coexist with federal obligations and objectives.

The case is ConocoPhillips v. Henry, 2007 WL 2908879 (N.D. Okla. 2007). 

H/T: Workplace Professor