Covid regulations for businesses

COVID-19 Regulations For California Businesses Have Not All Gone Away – There is a 3rd Revision to Cal/OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standards

Posted on by

Summary

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) recently approved the third readoption of the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (the “new ETS”). The new ETS took effect on May 7, 2022, and will remain in effect until December 31, 2022, when Cal/OSHA is expected to replace it with a permanent standard. The majority of the new ETS has not changed. However, the new ETS includes changes in line with the state’s recent direction of relaxing restrictions, and is more aligned with California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance.Read more→

arbitration agreements

Federal Law Now Limits Arbitration Agreements for Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault Claims

Posted on by

A few months ago (10/13/21 Post), we discussed the status of arbitration agreements in California. We explained how, under California’s AB 51, employers are prohibited from requiring employees to sign, as a condition of employment, agreements requiring arbitration of claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (such as sexual harassment) or the California Labor Code (such as claims for wages). We explained that this legislation had been challenged as potentially preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”).Read more→

isolation and quarantine

New State and Local Rules on Isolation and Quarantine

Posted on by

When an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19, the employee must follow the rules for “isolation,” while persons exposed to that employee must follow the rules for “quarantine.” The rules are imposed by state-level entities, namely, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), governing residents of California, and Cal/OSHA (governing California employers), and by county-level entities such as the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (governing residents of LA County). Employers must comply with the most stringent of these rules.Read more→

cal osha vaccine mandate

New Developments With OSHA’s Vaccine-Or-Test Mandate for Large Employers

Posted on by

On November 9, 2021, we discussed developments with the new federal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard for employers with 100+ employees. In that post, we explained how the ETS required such employers to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing, and noted that the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had granted a temporary nationwide stay of the ETS, meaning that the ETS could not be enforced.

Since November 9, new developments have come thick and fast: Read more→

california indoor mask mandate

Statewide Mask Mandate for All Indoor Public Settings

Posted on by

On December 13, 2021, the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) issued updated guidance requiring Californians to once again to wear masks indoors in “all indoor public settings,” regardless of vaccination status. The mandate will go into effect December 15, 2021, and will run through January 15, 2022.  Los Angeles County and several Bay Area counties already require masks in public settings, so this new mandate will mainly affect about 50% of the state population that lives in counties that currently don’t have their own mask mandate.Read more→