The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has reimposed mask mandates in public indoor settings. Under existing Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) emergency temporary standards, “Employers shall provide face coverings and ensure they are worn by employees when required by orders from the CDPH.” Failure to comply may subject an employer to substantial fines and other enforcement actions by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA).
OSHSB adopts new restrictions on fully vaccinated employees with close contact with COVID-19 cases
On Thursday. OSHSB voted to revise and extend its COVID-19 standards. The revised rules take effect on Jan. 14.
Employees the employer has documented are fully vaccinated and who are asymptomatic after having had contact for a cumulative 15 minutes or more within a 24-hour period with someone who has contracted COVID-19 must be excluded from the workplace for 14 days unless they “wear a face covering and maintain six feet of distance from others at the workplace for 14 days following the last date of close contact.”
Under the current standards, fully vaccinated workers who are asymptomatic after having been in close contact with someone with COVID-19 may continue to work onsite without restrictions. The California Chamber of Commerce, among other business groups, opposed the change as disincentivizing vaccination.
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