State regulators reconsider mask standard for workers
SACRAMENTO — California’s workplace regulators are set to again reconsider controversial masking rules designed to protect employees against the Coronavirus — requirements that business organizations say will make it harder for them to operate when the state fully reopens its economy next week.
A “special meeting’’ of the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board was hastily scheduled for Wednesday after State Health Officer Dr. Tomás Aragón sent a letter to the panel reiterating the state’s plans to follow federal guidance starting next Tuesday.
Aragón said the state will do away with virtually all social distancing requirements and drop the mask requirement for people who are vaccinated while “requiring face coverings for all unvaccinated individuals in indoor public settings and businesses.”
That policy conflicts with the Board’s vote last week to allow workers to go maskless only if every employee in a room is fully vaccinated against the Coronavirus. The Board will consider Aragón’s letter “and take action if appropriate,” Board spokeswoman Erika Monterroza said.
Meanwhile, a dozen business groups including the California Retailers Association and organizations representing manufacturers, farmers, tourism interests and other industries sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom asking him to immediately issue an emergency order rescinding the Board’s regulations, called Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS), and putting state workplaces in compliance with federal guidelines.
Without such action, the groups said the state’s economy won’t fully reopen next week as Newsom has said.
“Businesses will not bring employees back with the level of confusion and uncertainty created by the ETS and the mixed messages coming from state and local leaders,” the letter said.
The groups called the Board’s regulations “expensive liabilities for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small businesses who may not have the legal expertise to navigate the confusing and contradictory statements and regulations coming from various levels of government.”
Newsom was asked last Friday if he would issue such an order and he indicated he was disinclined.
On Tuesday, Newsom’s office repeated its statement from last week: that the administration is “hopeful the Board will further revise its guidance to reflect the latest science while continuing to protect workers and balancing realistic and enforceable requirements for employers.”
The Cal/OSHA Board’s regulations apply in almost every workplace in the state, including workers in offices, factories and retail.
Its pandemic rules apply to all employees except those working from home or where there is a single employee who does not have contact with other people.
The Board at Wednesday’s meeting could withdraw the new rules that it adopted less than a week ago because those have not yet become effective, Monterroza said.
But that would at least temporarily leave in place existing emergency rules that are even more stringent, requiring all workers to keep distanced and masked even if vaccinated.
The Board can’t adopt new changes without posting the proposed revisions and giving the public at least five calendar days of notice, she said. That potentially sets up further public comment and action at the Board’s regularly scheduled June 17 meeting.