Category: Coronavirus
California Relaxes COVID-19 Isolation and Testing Guidelines
Acknowledging that we are now at “a different point in time with reduced impacts from COVID-19 compared to previous years,” the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has updated its COVID-19 isolation guidelines in an effort to minimize workplace disruption when a person tests positive for the virus. Under...
Changes to COVID Isolation Requirements
For several years, California’s COVID isolation guidelines have played a key role in “stopping the spread” in the workplace by requiring contagious employees to isolate at home. As of March 13, 2023, the California Department of Public Health has revised those guidelines . In alignment with CDC Recommendations for Isolation and...
Employers Feel the Heat from Summer Legal Updates — Minimum Wage Increases, Arbitration Enforcement, and New COVID Safety Definitions
Local Minimum Wage Increases Go Into Effect on July 1, 2022 On July 1, 2022, a number of local governments throughout California will raise their minimum wage. In the City of Los Angeles, the new rate is $16.04/hour ($18.17/hour for hotel employees at hotels with 150 or more guest...
DIR Issues FAQ’s to Give Employers the ABC’s Re: the ETS
If you are trying to fight off the effects of COVID-19 variants in the workplace, the Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”) has offered up a bit of alphabet soup in the form of updated ETS FAQ’s, more formally known as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) regarding Revised COVID-19 Prevention Emergency...
Vaxxed and Unmasked in Los Angeles County
In light of the decreasing rates of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, Los Angeles County is relaxing its current mask mandate. Pursuant to the revised Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Order (the “Revised Order”), effective at 12:01 am on Friday, February 25, 2022, businesses may elect to allow workers...
A New Variant of California COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law Emerges — What Employers Need to Know
On February 9, 2022, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill No. 114, California’s 2022 COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave law. Under the new law, employers with 26 or more employees are obligated to provide up to 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave for qualifying COVID-19 related reasons (“2022 SPSL&rdquo...
New COVID Guidelines Unmasked, But Employers Are Still Subject to Cal/OSHA and Local Orders
Yesterday, the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) issued a new “ Guidance for the Use of Face Masks .” The new Guidance, which goes into effect at the state level on February 16, 2022, limits the settings in which universal masking will be required and also relaxes mask requirements...
Employers’ Struggles with Religious & Disability Accommodations from COVID-related Policies
The science, guidance, and regulations related to workplace safety policies for the COVID-19 pandemic are constantly changing (goodbye federal vaccine mandate!). As employers struggle to keep up, they are confronted with the decision of what safety policies to adopt, including, for many, whether to require their employees be vaccinated against...
SCOTUS Blocks OSHA ETS
On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States blocked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) from taking effect for the foreseeable future. The ETS required employers with 100 or more employees to implement a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination or weekly testing policy...
Happy New… COVID-19 Guidance to Employers Regarding Isolation and Quarantine Periods
If you are looking for a silver lining in the giant Omicron clouds hovering (and surging) over us, we are happy to confirm that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC"), the California Department of Public Health ("CDPH"), and California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health ("Cal/OSHA") are finally...
OSHA ETS Vaccine Mandate Back In Effect (For Now)
Mere moments after we published our most recent client alert, E.L.F. on a Digital Shelf: Employment Law Facts, a Summary of California’s New 2022 Employment Laws , on December 17, 2021, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the nationwide stay on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA...
E.L.F. on a Digital Shelf: Employment Law Facts, A Summary of California’s New 2022 Employment Laws
In preparation for 2022, California employers have an abundance of new laws with which to comply. Below are the highlights curated by our Employment Law Group. SB 331: The “ Silenced No More ” Bill, Prohibits Confidentiality of Alleged Unlawful Acts in NDAs and Settlement Agreements SB 331, which takes...
Employers Invited to Comment on Proposed Cal-OSHA COVID-19 Compliance Requirements – October 4, 2021 Deadline
California employers have a chance to participate in their own COVID regulation fate. While California employers are currently subject to a variety of overlapping state, local as well as Cal-OSHA COVID-19 compliance requirements, there has been little clarity and even less autonomy in the development of these requirements. Now...
Have Vaccine ‒ Will Mandate?
The United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced on August 23, 2021, that Pfizer is the first COVID-19 vaccine receiving full FDA approval. This is a procedural moment of clarity for which employers across the country and especially in California have been waiting. For several months prior to...
Cal/OSHA Issues Updated Sample COVID-19 Safety Plan to Incorporate its Revised Emergency Temporary Standards
As we shared several weeks ago in “ Ready, Set, Re-open! ,” Cal/OSHA recently revised its COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) which instruct California workplaces how to re-open safely while facing the challenges of the ongoing pandemic. Although the revised ETS no longer mandates physical distancing or masks for...
Do You Know WHO is Changing Their Mask Guidance?
The World Health Organization (“WHO”) and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (“DPH”) have issued new mask guidance in light of the spreading COVID-19 Delta variant, which is more contagious than other strains of the virus. On June 25, 2021, Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for...
LA County Issues New Return-to-Work Orders
A Simple 25-Page Order (Plus 32 Different Appendices) Guiding the Reopening of BusinessesThis alert is for employers with office worksites in Los Angeles County. Effective May 6, 2021, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has issued its “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” entitled the “Reopening Safer at Work and in the Community for Control of COVID-19” order. And if you think...
Cal/OSHA Evolves with COVID-19: CALIFORNIA EMPLOYERS MUST ALSO
From January 1, 2021, until January 1, 2023, Cal/OSHA has been empowered to issue citations more quickly for serious violations related to COVID-19. Employers throughout California are starting to feel the sting of the heightened Cal/OSHA regulations related to COVID-19 through employee class actions and Private Attorney General Actions...
New COVID-Related Sick Leave Obligations for California Employers
On March 19, 2021, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 95 (SB95), which adds sections 248.2 and 248.3 to the California Labor Code, extending and expanding COVID-related sick leave obligations for all California employers of 26 or more employees. The law, known as the 2021 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law...
DFEH Issues Pointed Guidance About Making Vaccines Mandatory for Employees
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (“DFEH”) has updated its COVID-19 guidance (effective 3/4/21, replacing its previous version from 7/24/20). Use Caution If You Are Considering Making Vaccines Mandatory The DFEH now says employers may require employees to receive a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved vaccination. We suspect...
Federal EEO-1 Pay Data Reporting Gets Pushed to April 2021, But California Pay Data Reporting is Due March 31, 2021
Federal EEO-1 Reports Employers who are required to file Employer Information Reports (an “EEO-1 Report”) should prepare to submit their 2019 and 2020 data in April 2021. Due to COVID-19, EEO-1 reporting for 2019 was delayed until the same deadline as 2020. The EEOC has not released a specific...
Los Angeles County Has Extended its 2020 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Requirement, Retroactive to January 1, 2021
While the State of California and the federal government both let their respective laws requiring COVID-19 paid sick leave expire at the end of 2020, Los Angeles County belatedly passed an ordinance that retroactively requires employers in the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County to provide COVID-19 supplemental paid...