{"id":4988,"date":"2022-11-04T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=4988"},"modified":"2022-11-04T09:00:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T14:00:31","slug":"californias-covid-19-workplace-requirements-continue-to-evolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=4988","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s COVID-19 Workplace Requirements Continue to Evolve"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><em>Emily Zhang<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><em>Associate Editor<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><em>Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D. 2024<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">On October 13, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/\">California Department of Public Health<\/a>\u2019s (CDPH) issued a change to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dir.ca.gov\/dosh\/coronavirus\/\">California Division of Occupational Safety and Health<\/a> (Cal\/OSHA) Covid-19 emergency standard and issued a revised proposal for the non-emergency standard. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/Programs\/CID\/DCDC\/Pages\/COVID-19\/Order-of-the-State-Public-Health-Officer-Beyond-Blueprint.aspx\">order<\/a> updates the definition of <em>\u201c<\/em>close contact\u201d under the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dir.ca.gov\/dosh\/coronavirus\/ETS.html\">Third Revised COVID Emergency Temporary Standard<\/a> and took effect on October 14. This order also provides strategies to prioritize response to potential exposures.<!--more--><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><strong>\u201cClose contact\u201d controversies<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">The CDPH had previously issued an order on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.littler.com\/publication-press\/publication\/california-department-public-health-order-alters-close-contact-and\">June 8, 2022<\/a>, that broadened the definition of \u201cclose contact\u201d when it replaced the \u201cwithin six feet\u201d language by announcing that person was a close contact if they shared the same airspace as a positive case for 15 minutes within a 24-hour period. For employers operating large open workspaces, this was a difficult rule to comply with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdph.ca.gov\/Programs\/CID\/DCDC\/Pages\/COVID-19\/Order-of-the-State-Public-Health-Officer-Beyond-Blueprint.aspx\">current order<\/a> aims to find a middle ground between the original definition and the airspace concept. The CDPH attempts to make \u201cclose contact\u201d more manageable for employers by making the two definitions more applicable depending on the size of the workplace measured in cubic feet. Under this order, larger workplaces defined to be greater than 400,000 cubic square feet are to apply the \u201cwithin six feet\u201d definition and smaller workplaces will apply the airspace concept of the rule.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><strong>Revised proposal for non-emergency Covid-19 standard<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board also published a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.littler.com\/publication-press\/publication\/calosha-public-hearing-proposed-non-emergency-two-year-covid-19\">final<\/a> proposed version of Cal\/OSHA\u2019s proposed non-emergency Covid-19 Standard. This proposed standard will:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Include CDPH\u2019s new \u201cclose contact\u201d definition, removes the requirement that employees must be masked;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Remove the requirement that employees be masked for one of the exceptions to the definition of \u201cexposed group\u201d to apply;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Change the definition of \u201creturned case\u201d to shorten the applicable period from 90 days after initial symptom onset\/positive test to 30 days;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Require that employers develop, implement, and maintain effective methods to prevent transmission for indoor workplaces;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Remove the requirement to keep a record of close contacts identified by the employer, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Allow employers to exit outbreak procedures when there is one or fewer new Covid-19 cases in a 14-day period.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">The proposed standard will be voted upon at the Cal\/OSHA Standards Board meeting in November or December, anticipating that this order would become effective on January 1, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><strong>Complying with the new proposal<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Compliance is not as straightforward as employers would like. Especially with new \u201cclose contact\u201d rules, the order will require that areas that are separated by floor-to-ceiling walls must be considered distinct indoor airspaces. Practically speaking, this additional requirement exposes large worksites to two sets of rules depending on whether the larger space is further compartmentalized by floor-to-ceiling walls. This also leaves open the question of how to proceed when each rule applies to the same employee within a 24-hour period. Merely asking employees to identify people with whom they were within six feet may not be sufficient, as employers at larger worksites will have to determine where people were located and when they interacted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><strong>Cal\/OSHA and California\u2019s strict workplace pandemic protocols <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s no secret that California has adopted some of the stricter rules in the U.S. for workplace pandemic safety. For example, while the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/resourcesandtools\/legal-and-compliance\/state-and-local-updates\/pages\/california-employers-must-follow-stricter-mask-rules.aspx\">relaxed its guidance on mask-wearing in 2021<\/a>, California employers were advised by their employment law attorneys to continue erring on the more stringent side. There has been an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/hr-today\/news\/all-things-work\/pages\/avoid-pandemic-related-litigation-risks.aspx\">increase in lawsuits<\/a> by employees who complain about COVID safety, and employers who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dir.ca.gov\/DIRNews\/2022\/2022-40.html\">need assistance<\/a> should look to Cal\/OSHA for answers. Worries over workplace safety, grievances about layoffs, and remote-work arrangements have heightened in the past few years, and companies need to continue taking employee livelihood and impact into consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\">Employers should always follow the guidelines listed by Cal\/OSHA when developing their workplace safety standards related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although this proposed standard seems to ease the requirements of pandemic workplace safety, at the end of the day, Cal\/OSHA works to protect employees from health and safety hazards. Thus, employers should consult their labor and employment attorneys prior to modifying or abandoning any of their existing health and safety protocols.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emily Zhang Associate Editor Loyola University Chicago School of Law, J.D. 2024 On October 13, the California Department of Public Health\u2019s (CDPH) issued a change to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal\/OSHA) Covid-19 emergency standard and issued a revised proposal for the non-emergency standard. The order updates the definition of \u201cclose contact\u201d &#8230;<br \/><a class=\"read-more-link btn btn-outline-secondary\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/?p=4988\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[338,533,534,715,718,1495],"class_list":["post-4988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-california","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-employment","tag-employment-law","tag-osha"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/compliance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}