By Ilana Morady, Patrick D. Joyce, Coby Turner, Liz Watson and Juan Rehl-Garcia
Seyfarth Synopsis: Two big changes are on the horizon for California employers:
(1) changes to the COVID-19 general exposure notification requirements and (2) a proposed “permanent” Cal/OSHA COVID-19 standard to take effect January 1, 2023-2025.
The fall season signals change between the
Continue Reading Changes Coming to CA COVID-19 RequirementsBy Chantelle C. Egan, Bernard Olshansky, Patrick D. Joyce, and Ilana Morady
Seyfarth Synopsis: On February 28, 2022, California’s Governor Newsom issued a press release lifting California’s mask requirements for unvaccinated individuals in indoor settings, downgrading the former requirement to a strong recommendation, effective March 1, 2022. The same day, the California Department of Public Health
Continue Reading California Loosens Indoor Masking Requirements for the Unvaccinated
By Coby Turner, Patrick D. Joyce, Ilana Morady, Adam R. Young, and Elizabeth M. Levy
Seyfarth Synopsis: The California Occupational Safety & Health Standards Board (OSHSB) was supposed to consider changes to the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on May 20, 2021. But after the CDC published a May 13, 2021 guidance saying that
Continue Reading For Real Now: Cal/OSHA Board Considering Changes to COVID-19 ETS
By Jaclyn Gross, Patrick D. Joyce, Bernard Olshansky, and Chantelle C. Egan
Seyfarth Synopsis: During the COVID-19 pandemic, California grocery, drug store, and other front-line workers have continued to sell essential products, stock shelves, clean buildings, and otherwise keep our economy moving. Several cities and counties have taken action—often in hap-hazard ways—to force the employers of these
Continue Reading Hap-Hazard Pay: COVID-19 Hazard Pay Ordinances
By Matthew Graffigna and Robert E. Buch
Seyfarth Synopsis: Senate Bill 1159 was signed into law by Governor Newsom on September 17, 2020, and went into effect immediately. Under the new law, if employees test positive for COVID-19 under specific circumstances, there is a rebuttable presumption that their exposure occurred at the workplace. Unless rebutted, this presumption creates a compensable
Continue Reading Workers’ Compensation Liability Is Catching In California
By Ilana R. Morady and Elizabeth M. Levy
Seyfarth Synopsis: As California’s legislative session comes to an end, a wave of new COVID-19 related laws that impact employers are being signed into law. On September 17, 2020, Governor Newsom signed AB 685, which will require employers to provide specific notices to employees exposed to COVID-19 within one business day
Continue Reading CalPecs – COVID-19 Exposure Notification Requirements Coming To A Workplace Near You
Seyfarth Synopsis: The controversy surrounding AB 5 unveiled a clear need for a new avenue of classifying so-called gig workers to combine the certainty of employee designations with the flexibility of gig jobs. What are the promises of and prospects for a hybrid classification that would provide workers with some employee benefits while also providing workers
Continue Reading GoT’s All-Seeing Three-Eyed Raven: The Gig Economy in California
By Eric Suits
Seyfarth Synopsis: In the popular PBS show Downton Abbey, a large staff attends to the every domestic need of the British Earl and his family. Those of us somewhat less fortunate have likely felt the additional household burdens associated with the SIP orders. And as California businesses re-open, companies and workers have yet another chore to
Continue Reading More Laundry? Keeping Uniforms Clean in the Time of COVID
Seyfarth Synopsis: During the COVID-19 crisis, employers are being thrust into situations in which they inquiring into and monitoring the private lives of their employees in unprecedented ways. However, employees still have privacy rights and, even though some intrusions upon employee privacy are warranted during the pandemic, employers need to beware of unintended consequences of legally
Continue Reading COVID-19 and Workplace Privacy: Employers Beware
By Adam H. Laughton, Mark A.Lies, II, and Daniel R. Birnbaum
Seyfarth Synopsis: With coronavirus infections continuing to spread both in the US and abroad, fears of a pandemic with serious disruptions to the economy and everyday life continue to grow. Concerns are compounded for healthcare providers and facilities, who are not only employers but are also
Continue Reading Coronavirus Preparation for Healthcare Facilities and Providers