Susan F. Wiltsie

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The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to coordinate investigations and enforcement actions between the two agencies. The MOU is the latest step by OSHA to blur the lines between workplace safety law and labor law, and could result in more workplace citations from OSHA or unfair labor practice charges filed with the NLRB. …
Continue Reading NLRB and OSHA to Enhance Enforcement Cooperation

On May 1, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) launched a new National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) to prevent or otherwise reduce workplace falls (the “Fall NEP”). …
Continue Reading OSHA Launches New National Emphasis Program Focused on Preventing Workplace Falls

On May 15, 2023, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its COVID-19-related technical guidance in response to the Biden administration’s termination of the COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11, 2023. The updated guidance cautions employers about their continuing obligations under the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Rehabilitation Act, and other equal employment opportunity laws. …
Continue Reading EEOC Issues Guidance Following Expiration of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is finally poised to implement a permanent COVID-19 safety standard for healthcare employers, nearly three years after the pandemic first began in the United States. …
Continue Reading Better Late Than Never – OSHA Is Finalizing COVID Rules Nearly Three Years into the Pandemic

California COVID-19 safety rules are here to stay.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted on December 15 to enact a new COVID-19 prevention regulation that imposes a number of familiar workplace safety requirements on California employers.  The regulations will become effective in mid-January 2023 after a 30-day review period and remain in effect for at least two years. …

Continue Reading New Regulation Extends CalOSHA COVID Enforcement into 2025 and Beyond

The U.S. Equal Employment Commission (“EEOC”) has recently updated its Technical Assistance Questions and Answers, “What You Should Know About COVID-10 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” (“Q&A)  and taken the position that employers may only screen employees for COVID-19 if it is a business necessity that is justified by “current pandemic circumstances and individual workplace circumstances” because a COVID-19 viral test is a medical examination within the meaning of the ADA.
Continue Reading EEOC States Employers Must Show Business Necessity to Test Workers for COVID-19

On June 8, 2022, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued an Order with definitions for “close contact” and “infectious period” that conflict and abrogate the definitions for these terms within the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s (Cal/OSHA) current COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS).  Employers must comply with the new CDPH definitions, even where they differ from the text of the California ETS or federal Centers for Disease Control guidance.
Continue Reading New “Close Contact” and “Infectious Period” Definitions Modify Compliance with Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 ETS