New protections for employees concerned about workplace safety during a public health emergency are now in effect in Colorado. House Bill (“HB”) 20-1415 seeks to protect employees and some independent contractors from retaliation or discrimination if they raise safety or health concerns about a public health emergency (“PHE”) to their employer. The law became effective upon Governor Jared Polis’…
On Thursday, June 11, 2020, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (“AFL-CIO”) to force the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) to issue an “Emergency Temporary Standard” (“ETS”) in response to workplace safety concerns arising from the novel Coronavirus and COVID-19.
As part of its on-going program to provide guidance to various industries that are continuing to work through the Coronavirus pandemic, OSHA this week established a single-source webpage with coronavirus-related guidance for the construction industry. The guidance includes recommended actions for both employers and employees to reduce the risk of exposure to coronavirus at the jobsite.
On Tuesday May 19, 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued new enforcement guidance for areas of the country that have seen low or falling incidents of community spread of COVID-19. This guidance replaces the guidance OSHA issued in April which relaxed enforcement for certain kinds of reporting. Critically, this new guidance instructs inspectors to follow normal…
Localized outbreaks of COVID-19 have plagued large industrial employers. A special focus has been placed on meat processing facilities, as plants across the country have become hotspots due to close quarters working conditions and allegations of insufficient responses by management in excluding ill workers and providing well workers with appropriate personal protective equipment (“PPE”). These…
States are beginning to plan ways to safely reopen their economies, and with that, businesses that closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic should plan how to reopen as well. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) have issued guidance and recommendations that should assist businesses in reopening.
COVID-19 impacts business operations in ways that change daily: unemployment compensation, sick leave, and employee retention are a few of the areas receiving regular updates.
Employers must also remember their obligations to employees who raise safety concerns, especially relating to the COVID-19 threat to health and safety. Employee safety initiatives have been focused on identifying and…
On April 3, 2020, OSHA issued updated guidance on the use of N95 masks as a result of shortages of these masks for Health Care Providers and other industry across the country. This guidance is meant as a supplement to N95 fit test guidance issued on March 14, 2020. The updated guidance provides overarching guidance for all industries that commonly use N95 masks as well as specified guidance for…
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) had become a pandemic. Then, on March 13, 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency to help mobilize the response and streamline funding to assist in fighting the disease. To date, the…
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs released its Spring 2019 semi-annual regulatory agenda for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) on May 22, 2019.
Included in the agenda is the issuance of OSHA’s final rule in the Standards Improvement Project IV revising 14…
In May 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) published a rule that amended 29 C.F.R. § 1904.35 and added a provision prohibiting employers from retaliating against employers for reporting work-related injuries or illnesses. See 29 C.F.R. § 1904.35(b)(1)(iv). In the…
On Monday, July 30, 2018, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking to revise the Tracking of Workplace Injury and Illness rule. The proposed rule rescinds the requirement for establishments with 250 or more employees to…
