Under heavy pressure from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and businesses, and after flip-flopping this month, California’s workplace-safety regulator is expected to do away with mask requirements for vaccinated employees in most jobs Thursday, with Newsom issuing an order afterward to make the new rules effective right away.
Cal/OSHA said last week that it would on Thursday approve job rules aligned with the state allowing vaccinated people to go without masks in most indoor and outdoor locations. Newsom said Monday that after the agency passes the rules, he’ll sign an executive order to make them effective the same day, instead of around June 28 as Cal/OSHA’s processes require.
The agency’s regular meetings allow for public comment on an issue before any vote, and comment on this issue has been prolific, so it remains unclear when the board will vote after the meeting’s 10 a.m. start, or when Newsom would sign the order.
Under current rules, all workers still must wear masks indoors unless alone in a room.
Newsom also said Monday he expected verification of workers’ vaccination status to be a matter of self-attestation. “You’ve got to believe people’s veracity. People, we hope, will be honest about that,” he said, adding that employers have the right to verify employees’ status if they wish. “At the end of the day that will be the process we hope is adopted formally … by OSHA,” he said.
The California Department of Industrial Relations, which includes Cal/OSHA, said last week that “employers must verify and document the vaccination status of fully vaccinated employees if they do not wear face coverings indoors.”
Cal/OSHA also has said employers must provide masks for unvaccinated workers. The state will provide “a large quantity” of masks to businesses for use by unvaccinated workers, Newsom added.
Cal/OSHA’s board has been under fire for a series of decisions that conflicted with the state’s reopening plans. The board created confusion and uncertainty among employers and workers two weeks ago when it passed a controversial rule that would have required all workers, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks if anyone in the room was unvaccinated. Under pressure from Newsom and business groups, the board reversed itself last week.
While business leaders during Cal/OSHA’s board meetings had attacked the agency’s initial rules for being stricter than the state’s reopening plan, labor advocates had supported continued mask requirements in workplaces, citing dangerous COVID variants and the unvaccinated status of many employees, along with the possibility of unscrupulous employers breaking rules. Employers have also pushed back strongly on a requirement to verify workers’ vaccination status.
Fully vaccinated Californians still need to wear masks in public, under state public health guidance separate from workplace rules, on public transportation, indoors at schools and similar youth situations, and at health-care settings — including care facilities, homeless shelters and cooling facilities, according to state public health rules. Cal/OSHA governs workplaces. Ghaly has said businesses can use the honor system for patrons.
