California’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard to be revised

(The Center Square) – The California/Occupational Safety and Health Administration Standards Board will vote on COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) revisions before the Golden State reopens fully on June 15.

The COVID-19 ETS went into effect on Nov. 20, well before the state’s labor force had access to vaccinations, and applies to all employers, employees, and to all workplaces with three exceptions.

In the meantime, impending changes to California’s COVID-19 ETS arrive amid recent Centers for Disease Control guidelines that in part waive requiring vaccinated employees to wear facial coverings and physically distance at work. According to the CDC’s changes as of May 13, those who are vaccinated may “Resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.

Generally, employers seek workplace flexibility from government oversight. Michael Miiller is with the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG).

“Many of our employers now have vaccination rates that are higher than the community vaccination rates,” he testified to the Standards Board on May 20. “Yet the ETS places tighter restrictions on the workplace than restrictions that exist in the community. The Board’s discussion of making this a permanent regulation sounds an alarm to California employers and employees who diligently followed state and federal guidelines and direction in creating a vaccinated workforce.”

Some labor groups oppose the CDC’s new COVID-19 measures. Take the U.S.’s biggest union of registered nurses.

“This newest CDC guidance is not based on science, does not protect public health, and threatens the lives of patients, nurses, and other frontline workers across the country,” said Bonnie Castillo, RN, the executive director of National Nurses, in a statement. “Now is not the time to relax protective measures, and we are outraged that the CDC has done just that while we are still in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century.”

Concurring with the NNU are labor advocacy groups such as WorkSafe, Inc. and the California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. California employer groups siding with the CAWG are the California Restaurant Association, California Chamber of Commerce and the Phylmar Regulatory Roundtable.

One thing is clear. Revising the state’s ETS will affect scores of employers and employees in a labor force of 19 million. Cal/OSHA is set to publish ETS revisions on May 28, which employers will be able to comment in writing publicly from that date to June 3. Further, employers can also opt to provide verbal testimony when the Standards Board meets on June 3.

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