On April 21, 2022, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) Standards Board adopted the fourth iteration of its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”). Sheppard Mullin previously wrote about the proposed revisions to the current ETS here, which were adopted without substantive changes. The revised ETS will become effective once approved by
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Further Updates to Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards Likely Coming Soon
At its upcoming April 21, 2022 meeting, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) Standards Board will decide whether to readopt the fourth iteration of its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”), which first went into effect on November 30, 2020. The ETS apply to all employees not covered by Cal/OSHA’s Aerosol Transmissible Disease…
California Reinstates COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave
We previously described the “framework” for an agreement to reinstate California’s Supplemental Paid Sick Leave. Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 114 into law on February 9, 2022. The specifics of the bill are summarized below.
California’s New COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law
In 2021, California enacted Senate Bill (“SB”) 95, which provided COVID-19…
California Likely to Soon Implement COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, Retroactive to January 1, 2022
On January 25, 2022, Governor Gavin Newson announced a “framework” for an agreement to reactivate California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“COVID PSL”) law for the period from January 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022. California employers should assume this agreement will become law in some form and prepare accordingly to re-institute supplemental paid sick…
COVID-19 ETS Requiring Vaccination or Weekly Testing Withdrawn
On January 25, 2022, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) announced its withdrawal of the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) requiring vaccination or weekly testing. This action came shortly after the United States Supreme Court stayed the immediate implementation and enforcement of the ETS. You can read our prior article about the Supreme…
UPDATED: NYC Council Passes Bill Granting Paid Sick Leave to Parents Vaccinating Children Against COVID-19
UPDATE: this law became effective on December 24, 2021, retroactive to November 2, 2021.
As previously discussed in our December 10, 2021 article, the New York City Council passed a bill requiring New York City employers to provide employees who are parents or legal guardians of a child with four hours of paid COVID-19…
Illinois Imposes New Restrictions on Non-Competes and Non-Solicits
Illinois recently passed legislation amending the Freedom to Work Act (the “Act”), following a growing trend of states imposing greater restrictions on employers’ use and enforcement of non-competition and non-solicitation covenants.
On January 1, 2022, SB 672 took effect, clarifying ambiguities in the original Act and levying additional requirements on Illinois employers who seek to…
Federal Judge in Texas Blocks Enforcement of Vaccine Mandate for Federal Workers
On Friday, January 21, 2022, Judge Jeffrey V. Brown of the Southern District of Texas issued a nation-wide injunction, blocking enforcement of President Biden’s Executive Order 14043. Executive Order 14043 requires vaccination for COVID-19 for all federal workers without qualifying medical or religious exemptions. The mandate, issued in September, was one of the first and…
U.S. Supreme Court Lifts Preliminary Injunctions on Healthcare Worker Vaccine Mandate
On January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) Interim Final Rule (the “Rule”) in a 5-4 decision, staying the preliminary injunctions issued for 24 states by the District Courts for the Eastern District of Missouri and the Western District of Louisiana. Therefore, the CMS vaccine…
U.S. Supreme Court Stays Implementation of OSHA’s COVID-19 ETS Requiring Vaccination or Weekly Testing Policy
On January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court granted emergency relief to the petitions of numerous states, businesses, and non-governmental organizations by staying the implementation and enforcement of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”). Under the original ETS, private employers with 100 or more employees were required…
California Employers Face New Obligations Under Cal/OSHA’s Revised COVID-19 ETS
For the second time, the standards-setting board for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) has readopted, with revisions, the agency’s COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”). The revised ETS become effective on January 14, 2022, and impose new obligations on nearly all employers in the Golden State.
Background on the Cal/OSHA…
New Year Means Newly Expanded Enforcement Authority for Cal/OSHA
In our annual California Legislative Update, we briefly explained that SB 606 expanded the enforcement authority of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) in various ways. With the new law’s effective date (January 1, 2022) right around the corner, we are providing a more detailed breakdown on the two new categories…
California Department of Public Health Requires Health Care Workers to Receive the Booster Vaccine by February 1, 2022
On December 22, 2021, the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) issued an order requiring workers in health care facilities to receive booster vaccinations to help combat COVID-19. Health care workers must receive the booster vaccine by February 1, 2022.
The order uses the same definition for “Health Care Facilities” as the August 5, 2021…
OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard Survival Guide
On December 17, 2021, in a “Friday Night Surprise” the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the Stay on the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). This seminal ETS applies to employers with 100 or more employees and requires that employees be either (1) vaccinated; or (2) weekly tested and…
Sixth Circuit Reinstates OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard for Private Employers Mandating COVID-19 Vaccinations or Weekly Testing
On November 4, 2021, in response to President Biden’s Executive Order, the Department of Labor, through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”), issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”). You can read our prior article about the ETS here. Generally, the ETS mandates all employers with 100 or more employees to require employees be…
New York City Requires Private Sector Employees to Be Vaccinated by December 27
On December 6, 2021, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a vaccine mandate which requires that all private sector employees who work in a workplace in the presence of another worker, or who interact with a member of the public, be vaccinated by December 27, 2021. The mandate applies to approximately 184,000 businesses…