Insight & Commentary on California Workplace Law Issues & Developments
Cal/OSHA’s outdoor heat illness prevention standard is well known by employers with employees who commonly work outside. And while there is no official indoor heat illness standard, employers still need to consider heat hazards when evaluating workplace safety, especially in light of Fed/OSHA’s National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) for Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards.
Although…
On December 16, 2021, Cal/OSHA’s Standards Board voted to readopt the Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (Cal/OSHA ETS) with several revisions. And just a day later the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit lifted the stay on the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (federal ETS). The timing…
As uncertainty about the federal OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard persists, Cal/OSHA’s Standards Board has announced it will not discuss the changes to California COVID-19 ETS at its November 18th meeting. The Board’s consideration of the Horcher proposal (a verbatim adoption of the federal OSHA regulation) will be delayed until there is a…
After receiving over 40 public comments and holding a public meeting on its proposed wildfire smoke emergency regulation, California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“DOSH”), has eased some requirements of the proposed rule. (If you would like more information on the proposed regulation, you can check out this previous OSHA…
In the wake of the most destructive wildfire season in California history, California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“DOSH”), has issued a proposed emergency regulation intended to protect workers from wildfire smoke. On April 15th, 2019, DOSH released the proposed regulation and scheduled a hearing to discuss the regulation for…
On October 10, 2018, California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“DOSH”) issued a notice of proposed emergency regulation requiring California employers to begin submitting their 300A Form to the Federal OSHA portal, Injury Tracking Application (“ITA“). Specifically the regulation, if approved, will require the electronic submission of the…
Cal/OSHA just published a Fact Sheet and a Poster regarding Cal/OSHA’s new requirement for covered employers to create and maintain a Hotel Housekeeping Musculoskeletal Injury Program (“MIPP”) and also train their housekeepers with respect to the MIPP. We previously discussed California’s new requirement in our blog on June 25, 2018 called, California’s Hotel Housekeeping Standard:…
California’s long-awaited standard on “Hotel Housekeeping Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention” is finally here, coming into effect for California hotels and other lodging establishments on July 1, 2018. The standard is designed to control the risk of musculoskeletal injuries to housekeepers. The standard applies to “lodging establishments,” such as hotels, motels, resorts, and bed and breakfast inns.…
The budget change proposal for the 2016/17 Fiscal Year [document: <http://web1a.esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/1617/FY1617_ORG7350_BCP474.pdf>] submitted by Governor Brown last month contains significant proposed changes to the operation of the Labor & Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”), the agency responsible for overseeing the Private Attorney Generals Act of 2004 (“PAGA”) including the creation of a “PAGA Unit” with the authority to intervene and object to the adequacy of the settlement funds designated to PAGA claims. The budget requests a $1.6 million increase to the operation budget to cover additional staffing needs for the agency and an additional $1.5 million going forward to “stabilize and improve the handling of PAGA cases.” The budget proposal justifies the request for additional resources to increase the LWDA’s effectiveness.
Continue Reading Governor Brown’s Proposed PAGA Unit May Have Power to Challenge PAGA Settlement in Court
When the outdoor temperature tops 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the cool, air-conditioned comfort of a retail store may be a refuge for salespeople, but it is easy to forget that many other retail employees (including truck drivers, loaders, mechanics, janitors, maintenance personnel, cart attendants, and warehouse crews) may be feeling the heat in their workplaces.
Continue Reading Sales May Sizzle, But Keep Employees Cool
