Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) apply to most workplaces in California, with very few exceptions. Enacted in November of 2020, the ETS sets requirements for California employers related to COVID-19 protocols for exposures at the workplace and measures to take if employees are exposed to or catch COVID-19 at the workplace. We have written about the ETS extensively before, but wanted to focus on five common questions we are seeing from employers about the ETS and the recent revisions to the ETS that took effect on January 14, 2022:

1. Which employers are covered by the ETS?

The ETS applies to all employers, employees, and places of employment with the following exceptions:

• Work locations where there is only one employee who does not have contact with other people.
• Employees who are working from home.
• Employees who are covered by the Aerosol Transmissible Diseases regulation (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 5199) (section 5199).
• Employees working from a location chosen by the employee that is not under the control of the employer (for instance, an employee teleworking from a café or a friend’s home).

2. Does an employer need to pay exclusion pay if the workplace is closed because of COVID-19 or any other reason?

Cal/OSHA’s updated FAQs (available here: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/ETS-FAQ2_01.24.2022-AF.pdf) provides that if the business closes, exclusion pay is not required. The FAQs state: “No, the employer need not maintain the exposed employee’s...

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