One of the largest labor organizations in the United States, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has petitioned the federal government to take over workplace safety oversight from South Carolina regulators. The union claims that the state's regulatory infrastructure is insufficient and fails to protect service employees.

South Carolina is one of 22 states that are allowed to enforce occupational safety in most private businesses independently, as long as their programs are "at least as effective" as the federal counterpart. However, the SEIU argues that this is not the case in South Carolina. The union's lawyer highlights the subpar enforcement program and "skeletal inspection force" as factors preventing real accountability.

Shae Parker, a former Waffle House employee, spoke at a Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) rally, stating, "Make our workplace safe. Because y'all need us at the end of the day." The USSW, an SEIU affiliate, has been mobilizing colleagues across fast food chains, retail stores, and warehouses to push for stronger protections. The USSW supported complaints from Waffle House staff in South Carolina's capital city earlier this summer, which included concerns over a faulty air-conditioning system. Parker described how heat exhaustion became so severe among cooks and servers that someone vomited.

The USSW sent multiple follow-ups to the South Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about the conditions at Waffle House before finally receiving a conference that lasted only five minutes. This example is mentioned in the petition as evidence of the state program's "overt hostility." The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation responded to the claims, saying that the state plan follows federal enforcement procedures and collaborates with groups like the USSW to provide free safety and health training.

In addition to the insufficient enforcement program, organizers also argue that South Carolina does not conduct enough inspections. Federal regulators found that the state ran fewer inspections than expected in four of the five years from 2017-2022. In 2018, the state fell 50% below federal expectations for inspections, which is concerning given the size of South Carolina's economy. The USSW points out that South Carolina conducted only 287 inspections in 2022, equivalent to about 1.9 inspections per 1,000 establishments. This rate is less than one-third of the rates in neighboring states like North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, as well as the national average.

Furthermore, the SEIU claims that serious safety violations in South Carolina have recently received weaker sanctions than required. The state's average penalty for all private sector employers in fiscal year 2022 was $2,019, which falls below the national average of $3,259. The union's filing highlights that the Republican-led state is challenging recent federal penalty increases, although a federal court dismissed its case earlier this year.

This filing by labor groups is not the first challenge they have made against the South Carolina OSHA. In April, the USSW filed a civil rights complaint accusing the agency of racial discrimination by failing to routinely inspect workplaces with disproportionately large numbers of Black employees. The hope is that federal pressure will lead to changes similar to those seen in Arizona, where new standards and laws were adopted to align penalties with federal levels.

The South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation has not yet responded to the recent petition. This news report was written by a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative, a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.