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New Cal/OSHA ETS FAQs

by Jennifer Shaw | | January 7, 2022

The California Department of Industrial Relations issued revised COVID-19 FAQs on January 6, 2022, to address the interplay of the new CDPH isolation and quarantine guidance and the Cal/OSHA ETS.  (Thank you, DIR!).  Here is a link:  https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/coronavirus/COVID19FAQs.html.  At the end of the FAQs, the DIR explains:

Q: How do the January 6, 2022 changes to CDPH’s recommended isolation and quarantine periods affect the ETS?

A: In December of 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order N-84-20, which states that the recommended isolation and quarantine periods in the ETS (also called “exclusion periods” in the ETS) will be overridden by any applicable isolation or quarantine recommendation by the CDPH or, if applicable, the local health department with jurisdiction over the workplace, if the periods in the ETS are longer than those recommended by the CDPH or local health department. If the CDPH and local health department isolation and quarantine recommendations differ, the required exclusion period under the ETS is the longer of the two.

This means that, with only one exception noted below, the new isolation and quarantine recommendations from CDPH replace the exclusion periods and return to work criteria in sections 3205(c)(9) and 3205(c)(10) of the ETS. The exclusion requirements are as follows in the tables below.

The June 17, 2021, ETS remains in effect until January 14, 2022. Until then, the quarantine rules for fully vaccinated workers set forth therein continue to apply because exclusion period for this group of workers is not longer than those recommended by the updated CDPH guidance. However, employers are encouraged to review and begin the process of implementing the CDPH recommendations before then. The CDPH recommendations will replace exclusion periods and return to work criteria for all workers when the second readoption of the ETS takes effect on January 14, 2022.

There are also some very helpful charts in the FAQ.

On another note, the U.S. Supreme Court arguments on the OSHA ETS are fascinating.  Hope you are listening!

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