Just yesterday, January 25, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that is withdrawing their vaccination and testing emergency temporary standards (ETS) that covered large employers (100+ employees). The withdrawal is effective today.
While this does avoid the “waiting game” now for those large employers who were waiting for the outcome of the all the legal challenges the ETS was facing, this is does not mean that employers can simply ignore the OSHA requirements that are still in place, nor your state or local Covid-19 requirements.
OSHA is still allowed, and here in California Cal-OSHA, to regulate industry specific risks in order to control, minimize and ensure the safety of employees as it relates to the Coronavirus and all its variants. That’s its entire purpose: to protect and improve the health and safety of working men and women in California through setting and enforcing standards, providing outreach, education assistant as well as issuing permits, licenses and other types of workplace approvals. How does Cal-OHSA do this? By conducting workplace inspections wherein businesses who do meet Cal-OSHA standards can be cited. These citations result in financial fines and other costs related to ensuing hazards in the workplace are resolved and safe working conditions for your employees are in place.
So what do you do as an employer? Consult your employment attorney to ensure that you have proper safety protocols in place to address Covid-19 in the workplace. There are specific requirements to protect your workplace, including the necessary written Covid-19 prevention plan and the California mask mandate which we wrote about recently. Employers are also allowed to institute vaccine mandates and adopt other safety policies and procedures due to the uniqueness of your business, customer base to ensure protection for your employees while the pandemic continues. To find out if you are operating you company safely and meeting the requirements of Cal-OSHA, no matter your size, call the Employer Lawyers at Chauvel & Glatt.
The material in this article, provided by Chauvel & Glatt, is designed to provide informative and current information as of the date of the post. It should not be considered, nor is it intended to constitute, legal advice or promise similar outcomes. For information on your particular circumstances, please contact Chauvel & Glatt at 650-573-9500. (photo credit: depositphotos.com)
