Blog Viewer

Yesterday, AB 685 (Reyes) was significantly amended to address a number of CSDA and other public agencies’ concerns. As amended, the bill will require all employers, public and private, to notify employees of potential exposure to COVID-19 at the workplace. Summarizing the provisions of the bill, it will require employers to notify employees, through the employer’s normal means of communication, that have been potentially exposed to COVID-19 within one business day of the potential exposure. In the communication, employers must inform the employees of the benefits and leave options available to them should they be necessary. With regard to providing the information on benefits and leave options, employers don’t need to provide the all the information within the communication but can point to where the information can be found (clarification on this issue is being sought). For example, if an employer has all of this information on their website, they can provide a link to where the information is located in their email or text communication to the employee. Additionally, the bill would require employers that have an “outbreak” (three or more employees contracting COVID-19) to report the information about the employees to the local health department within 48 hours. The local health department will in turn report the information to Cal/OSHA who will be reporting the information on their website (CSDA still has concerns with this provision of the bill). The bill also provides Cal/OSHA the authority to stop business operations if they determine that it poses an imminent danger to employees or the public. Exempted from the bill are health facilities and “employees that conduct COVID-19 testing or provide direct patient care or treatment to individuals who are known to have tested positive for COVID-19, are persons under investigation or are in quarantine or isolation related to COVID-19” (healthcare workers and firefighters). The provisions of the bill sunset January 1, 2023. While there are still some issues to work out, the amendments that provided the exemptions to healthcare workers and other employees where there is an expectation of exposure, along with the changes to the information that must be included in communications to employees, largely addresses the issues that made public agencies uniquely burdened by the bill. As a result, CSDA along with other public agency organizations will no longer be seeking to have public agencies removed from the provisions of the bill. Instead, we will continue to work with the larger business community to address remaining concerns and seeking clarification on certain provisions of the bill.

After reading the amended bill, if you continue to have concerns, please contact me at dillong@csda.net to share your specific concerns. There is likely only going to be one more round of amendments to the bill before the legislative session comes to an end on August 31. Any amendments need to be made by Friday, August 28.