New California workplace rules for COVID-19 are out. Some businesses aren’t happy
California has become one of the first states in the country to have emergency workplace rules to protect employees from COVID-19 exposure.
During a major outbreak, defined as 20 or more cases within a 14-day period, employers will be required to provide workers with testing at least twice a week. The rules also require that workers quarantining due to an exposure be paid.
Members of the standards board of Cal-OSHA voted unanimously to approve the regulations on Thursday.
“We know what we have to do, and sitting and waiting is not going to help,” said the board’s chair, David Thomas.
Representatives of dozens of industries, from wine-making to restaurants, asked the board to hold off on adopting the standards, saying it shouldn’t rush through the process and potentially harm businesses who are also struggling during the pandemic.
The standards, for instance, make it possible that big employers with hundreds of employees could be defined as in a perpetual outbreak, said Rob Moutrie, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce. He also said smaller employers in more rural areas with limited medical infrastructure may not be able to test every employee.
Finally, requiring employers to keep paying their employees may exceed Cal-OSHA’s authority, Moutrie told the board.
“Those issues can be fixed if we have the time,” Moutrie told the board.
But dozens of labor advocates and workers urged the board to pass the standard, saying time is of the essence.
“With COVID, it moves so rapidly that I don’t think we should make the perfect be enemy of the good,” said Robert Harrison, a physician at the University of California, San Francisco and a former member of the Cal-OSHA’s standards board.
The UFCW Western States Council, which represents workers in industries such as meat packing, praised the standards.
“Enforcement is key to worker safety, and we believe these standards will help keep both workers and customers healthy to prevent the virus from spreading more during the projected uptick in cases over the winter months,” said Joe Duffle, president of UFCW Local 1167 representing grocery workers in Southern California, in a statement.
The new workplace standards come as coronavirus case numbers are rising again. The standards will go into effect within 10 days pending state review, and will be effective for at least 180 days. Healthcare workers, who already have their own standards, are exempt.
Provisions in the standards include:
- Employers shall establish a written policy on preventing COVID-19, which should include information on testing and how workers can communicate their symptoms and workplace hazards.
- Employers shall offer COVID-19 testing at no cost to all employees who were potentially exposed to the virus in their workplace.
- Employers shall provide employees information about COVID-19 related benefits, such as emergency paid sick leave and workers’ compensation.
- All employees shall be separated from others by at least six feet, unless an employer can demonstrate that six feet of separation is not possible.
- Employers shall provide face coverings and ensure employees wear those over the nose and mouth when indoors or when outdoors and less than six feet away from another person. Anyone not wearing a face covering or face shield should be at least six feet apart from all others unless the person is tested at least twice weekly for COVID-19.
- Employers shall maximize the quantity of outside air, unless air quality is poor or if the weather is too hot or cold.
- Employers shall report to Cal-OSHA any COVID-19-related serious illness or death of an employee at work or in connection with work.
- Employers shall keep a record of all COVID-19 cases at the workplace.
- Anyone exposed to COVID-19 shall be excluded from work for 14 days after their last known exposure, except in very limited circumstances. Employers shall keep paying their employees, whether through sick leave, public benefits or other means.
- Workers with COVID-19 shall not return to work until at least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared, and at least a day since a fever of 100.4 or higher has been resolved. A negative test is not required.
- Those who have tested positive for the coronavirus but have no symptoms shall not return to work until at least 10 days have passed since they first tested positive for COVID-19. A negative test is not required.
- During an outbreak, defined as three or more cases within a 14-day period, employers shall provide testing to all workers except those who were not present at the workplace during the time. Those workers shall be tested immediately, a week later and then at least once per week until there are no new cases detected for a 14-day period.
- During a major outbreak, defined as 20 or more cases within a 14-day period, employers shall provide testing at least twice a week for the workers.
New rules also govern employer-provided housing and transportation, such as requiring beds to be spaced at least six feet apart in all directions.
The state has published guidance documents for dozens of industries, but labor advocates for months have called for Cal-OSHA to create and pass the official standards.
The Cal-OSHA Training Academy has made materials available at its website for companies and workers to help comply with the regulations.
This story was originally published November 20, 2020 at 10:53 AM with the headline "New California workplace rules for COVID-19 are out. Some businesses aren’t happy."
