How to Contest an OSHA Citation: Step-by-Step Guide for Employers

You Got Cited. Now What?

An OSHA citation arrives with a penalty amount, a description of each alleged violation, and an abatement date for each item. Your first instinct might be to pay it and move on. Don't decide yet. Even if you agree with the violation, an informal conference or a contest can change the classification, the penalty, or the abatement date, and what goes on your record.

At a glance: You have 15 working days from receiving the notice of proposed penalty to postmark a notice of contest (29 CFR 1903.17(a)). An informal conference does not stop that clock (29 CFR 1903.20). A contest goes to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, where the Secretary files a complaint, you answer within 21 days, and an administrative law judge decides. To contest an OSHA citation, an employer must postmark a written notice of contest to the Area Director within 15 working days of receiving the notice of proposed penalty, under 29 CFR 1903.17(a). The case then goes to the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and requesting an informal conference does not extend the 15-working-day deadline.

The 15-Working-Day Clock

The count is set by 29 CFR 1903.22(c): working days are Monday through Friday, not federal holidays, and the day you receive the notice is not counted while the 15th working day is. A citation received on a Tuesday before a holiday week can run well past three calendar weeks. Count it on a calendar the day the envelope arrives.

Miss day 15 and the citation and penalty become a final order of the Review Commission, "not subject to review by any court or agency" (29 U.S.C. 659(a)).

Your Three Options

Option 1: Accept the citation

Pay the penalty, correct each hazard by its abatement date, and certify the fix to the Area Director within 10 calendar days after each date (29 CFR 1903.19(c)). A final order stays on your record: a substantially similar violation within the look-back period can be cited as repeated, and a recent serious, willful or repeat citation costs you the history reduction. If a fix can't be finished in time, a petition for modification of abatement date is due by the close of the next working day after the original date (29 CFR 1903.14a(c)).

Option 2: Informal conference

Ask the Area Office for a meeting (29 CFR 1903.20). It is the most flexible route:

• no lawyer required, though you can bring one;
• you discuss the facts, present evidence and negotiate;
• it can change the classification of an item, for example serious to other-than-serious, and reduce the penalty;
• an abatement date set in an informal settlement agreement becomes the abatement date (29 CFR 1903.19(b)(2)(i)(C));
• it does not waive your right to contest, and it does not stop the 15-working-day clock. If the conference hasn't produced a signed agreement by day 15, file the notice of contest anyway.

Option 3: Contest

Send the Area Director a written notice of intention to contest, saying whether you contest the citation, the proposed penalty, or both (29 CFR 1903.17(a)). The case leaves OSHA and goes to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), an agency independent of OSHA. Here is how it runs.

After the Notice of Contest: the Review Commission Process

1. OSHA notifies the Commission within 15 working days of receiving your notice (29 CFR 2200.33).
2. Complaint and answer. The Secretary of Labor files a complaint within 21 days of receiving the notice of contest. You file an answer within 21 days after it is served. Any allegation you don't deny is deemed admitted, and your affirmative defenses, such as infeasibility, unpreventable employee misconduct or greater hazard, must be in the answer or you may lose them (29 CFR 2200.34).
3. Simplified Proceedings, if the case fits. Cases with few items, $20,000 or less in proposed penalties (up to $30,000 at the Chief Judge's discretion), no willful or repeat item and no fatality can be handled with a lighter procedure (29 CFR 2200.202). Any party can ask in writing within 21 days of the notice of docketing; "I request Simplified Proceedings" is enough (29 CFR 2200.203(b)).
4. Hearing and decision. An administrative law judge hears the case and affirms, modifies or vacates each item and penalty (29 CFR 2200.90). The judge's decision becomes the Commission's final order 30 days after the judge's report, unless a Commissioner directs review (29 U.S.C. 661(j)).
5. Commission review. Review is not a right. A party asks for it with a petition for discretionary review filed no later than 20 days after the judge's report is docketed (29 CFR 2200.91).
6. Court of appeals. A final Commission order can be taken to a federal court of appeals within 60 days: the circuit where the violation occurred, where the employer has its principal office, or the D.C. Circuit. Filing does not stop the order unless the court says so (29 U.S.C. 660(a)).

In a state-plan state, the contest goes to that state's own review body, on the dates printed on the state citation.

How to Build Your Defense

Whether you go to an informal conference or a hearing, documentation carries the case. Gather:

1. Training records

Show that employees were trained on the specific hazard:

• sign-in sheets with dates and topics;
• the training materials used;
• competency checks and refresher dates.

The Training Record Template lays out a HazCom record.

2. Written programs

Show the program was in place before the inspection:

• written HazCom program, required by 29 CFR 1910.1200(e)(1) (generate one);
• fall protection plan, where 29 CFR 1926.502(k) calls for one;
• respiratory protection program (29 CFR 1910.134(c));
• energy control procedures (29 CFR 1910.147(c)(4)) (LOTO generator).

3. Inspection documentation

Show regular self-inspections:

• completed checklists (HazCom Audit Checklist);
• corrective action records;
• equipment inspection logs;
• dated photos of compliant conditions.

4. SDS and chemical management

For HazCom citations:

• the SDS library and how employees reach it during each shift (29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(8));
• container labeling photos (1910.1200(f)(6));
• the list of hazardous chemicals (template);
• gap analysis results (SDS Gap Analyzer).

Penalty Reduction Factors

Chapter 6 of OSHA's Field Operations Manual applies four reductions to the gravity-based penalty, serially, in this order: size, good faith, history, Quick-Fix.

Repeated violations receive the size reduction only; willful violations get no good-faith reduction. Use the OSHA Fine Calculator to estimate your adjusted penalty before the informal conference.

Common Employer Mistakes

1. Missing day 15. Count it under 1903.22(c) the day the notice arrives.
2. Skipping the informal conference. Even if you plan to contest, it tells you OSHA's position for free.
3. Guessing out loud. During the inspection and the conference, state facts. "We are investigating" is better than "We knew about that problem."
4. Touching the records. Never alter or backdate a document. Knowingly making a false statement or record in a document required under the OSH Act is a federal crime (29 U.S.C. 666(g)).
5. Letting uncontested dates slide. Items you don't contest keep their abatement dates, and failure to abate them can cost up to $16,550 per day (29 CFR 1903.15(d)(5)).

When You Were Actually Compliant

Sometimes the citation is wrong. The defenses the Review Commission's rules name include:

• Greater hazard: complying would create a greater hazard than the violation.
• Infeasibility: compliance was not feasible, and you used alternative protection.
• Unpreventable employee misconduct: you had the rules, the training and the enforcement, and the employee broke them anyway.
• Multi-employer role: you were not the creating, exposing, correcting or controlling employer, or you met your role's duty under CPL 02-00-124.

All three named defenses must be raised in your answer (29 CFR 2200.34(b)(3)). Unpreventable employee misconduct is the one employers most often try, and it holds only if you prove each element the Commission applies:

1. a work rule designed to prevent the violation;
2. the rule adequately communicated to employees (training records, toolbox talks);
3. steps to discover violations (supervision, self-inspections);
4. effective enforcement when violations were found (documented, progressive discipline).

Dated training rosters and a documented disciplinary record are the evidence that test turns on.

After the Citation: Preventing Recurrence

1. Run a full compliance audit within 30 days.
2. Update your written programs.
3. Run refresher training and document it.
4. Put inspections and corrective actions on a system that dates them.
5. Score your program with the HazCom Compliance Scorer.

Tools & related reading

• Build your defense: HazCom Audit Checklist · OSHA Fine Calculator · Defense Package Readiness · HazCom Training Record
• Related guides: OSHA Inspections & Citations hub · Citation response, abatement and PMA · July 2025 penalty reductions · The OSHA inspection process · The citation defense package · Multi-employer worksite doctrine
• 2026 OSHA penalty schedule · penalties by state

Sources & verification (read September 28, 2026): 29 CFR 1903.14a, 1903.15(d), 1903.16, 1903.17, 1903.19, 1903.20 and 1903.22 on the eCFR; 29 CFR Part 2200 (Review Commission rules), sections 2200.33, .34, .90, .91, .202 and .203, on the eCFR; 29 U.S.C. 659, 660, 661(j) and 666(g) on govinfo; OSHA Field Operations Manual (CPL 02-00-164), chapter 6, on osha.gov. Not legal advice; state-plan states run their own contest procedures.