CAL/OSHA Does Not Adopt Federal ETS, But Provides Additional Guidance

Update Applicable to:
All employers in the state of California

What happened?
On January 20, 2022, the Cal/OSHA Standards Board announced they would not consider the proposal to adopt the federal ETS, also known as a Horcher proposal.

What are the details?
The Cal/OSHA Standards Board previously considered adopting the federal ETS at its November 18, 2021 meeting. The Board delayed that proposal when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal reaffirmed its initial stay of the federal ETS.

While the adoption of the federal ETS is on the back burner for now, employers still need to be familiar with the amendments to the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (Cal/OSHA ETS), which went into effect on January 14, 2022, and expires on April 14, 2022.

To assist employers in complying with the amended Cal/OSHA ETS, Cal/OSHA has updated their guidance, which is linked below:

• COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards Frequently Asked Questions

• Revisions to the COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (effective January 14, 2022) Frequently Asked Questions

• What Employers Need to Know About the December 16 Standards

• What Employers and Workers Need to Know About COVID-19 Isolation and Quarantine

For more information, please see the link below:

Article

What do employers need to do?
Employers should review the links provided above by our source, Jackson Lewis, and refresh themselves with the Cal/OSHA ETS.

Vensure highly encourages employers to reach out to their local health departments for any specific guidelines or regulations that may be applicable to their state or county.