5th Circuit: Cal-OSHA Has Jurisdiction Over Texas Trucking Co. for Work Safety Violations

By Jim Sams | June 14, 2021

A federal appellate court rejected a Texas trucking company’s attempt to force a California state agency to pursue a $6,180 fine for workplace safety violations in a Texas court.

Bulkley & Associates filed suit twice to challenge the California Department of Industrial Relations’ jurisdiction over its business, which is headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Brashear, Texas. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals shot down the second lawsuit on Thursday, ruling that Texas courts did not have “personal jurisdiction” over the department.

Bulkley had argued that California has no jurisdiction over a company engaged in interstate commerce, even though its employee was injured while in California. ... “Bulkley is an employer whose only involvement in the state of California is through engagement in interstate commerce, specifically the delivery to and pickup up from customers certain freight originating in or to be delivered to another state,” the company said in its pleadings. “Therefore Bulkley is not subject to the legislative power of the state of California at least with regard to its work rules and employee safety.”

The Department of Industrial Relations fined Buckley in 2015 after one of its drivers fell off a truck while picking up refrigerated goods at a customer’s facility in Salinas, California. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration division cited Bulkley for failing to report the accident, for failing to implement and illness and injury prevention program and for failing to provide proper footwear to the truck driver.

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