HankT
State Researcher
imported post
Interesting law.Besides the conflictwith OSHA, I'm wondering if it conflicts with employer property rights...
Wed November 14, 2007
Employee gun law faces test
By Robert E. Boczkiewicz
Correspondent
DENVER — Oklahoma state officials took a step Tuesday to have an appeals court uphold the right of employees to have guns in locked vehicles parked where they work.
Gov. Brad Henry and Attorney General Drew Edmondson asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review an Oct. 4 ruling that overturned a 2004 state law giving that right to employees, except convicted felons.
In that ruling, U.S. District Judge Terence Kern in Tulsa concluded the state law conflicts with the 1970 federal Occupational Safety and Health Act, designed to reduce workplace hazards. Kern ruled the federal law pre-empts that state law.
In a filing Tuesday at the Denver-based appeals court, Henry and Edmondson asked the court to determine whether Kern was correct. He issued an injunction against the law.
The appellate judges will decide whether to hear oral arguments. Their decision is not expected until 2008 or 2009.
What led to the change in law?
Oklahoma legislators passed the law after Weyerhaeuser Corp. fired eight workers in 2002 for violating company policy when guns were found in their vehicles at a timber mill in southeastern Oklahoma.
Rep. Jerry Ellis, the lead House author of the law, contends it is needed to enable employees to protect themselves.
After the law was passed, several employers at various times challenged its constitutionality and contended the law would undermine company policies to protect workers.
Another federal judge in Tulsa blocked the law from taking effect pending the outcome of the court challenge.
http://www.newsok.com/article/3168853/
Interesting law.Besides the conflictwith OSHA, I'm wondering if it conflicts with employer property rights...
Wed November 14, 2007
Employee gun law faces test
By Robert E. Boczkiewicz
Correspondent
DENVER — Oklahoma state officials took a step Tuesday to have an appeals court uphold the right of employees to have guns in locked vehicles parked where they work.
Gov. Brad Henry and Attorney General Drew Edmondson asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review an Oct. 4 ruling that overturned a 2004 state law giving that right to employees, except convicted felons.
In that ruling, U.S. District Judge Terence Kern in Tulsa concluded the state law conflicts with the 1970 federal Occupational Safety and Health Act, designed to reduce workplace hazards. Kern ruled the federal law pre-empts that state law.
In a filing Tuesday at the Denver-based appeals court, Henry and Edmondson asked the court to determine whether Kern was correct. He issued an injunction against the law.
The appellate judges will decide whether to hear oral arguments. Their decision is not expected until 2008 or 2009.
What led to the change in law?
Oklahoma legislators passed the law after Weyerhaeuser Corp. fired eight workers in 2002 for violating company policy when guns were found in their vehicles at a timber mill in southeastern Oklahoma.
Rep. Jerry Ellis, the lead House author of the law, contends it is needed to enable employees to protect themselves.
After the law was passed, several employers at various times challenged its constitutionality and contended the law would undermine company policies to protect workers.
Another federal judge in Tulsa blocked the law from taking effect pending the outcome of the court challenge.
http://www.newsok.com/article/3168853/
