Under Assembly Bill 685, public or private employers would face fines up to $10,000 for failing to provide notifications of exposure within 24 hours. Failure to provide any of the notifications would be a misdemeanor.
A California bill supported by labor unions and opposed by business groups would force employers to quickly notify employees and health officials if a worker is exposed to coronavirus, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Under Assembly Bill 685, public or private employers would face fines up to $10,000 for failing to provide notifications of exposure within 24 hours. Failure to provide any of the notifications would be a misdemeanor.
Existing law fails to make employers’ reporting requirements clear, the bill says.
If the bill passes, when a worker is exposed to coronavirus — through contact with someone who has tested positive, been diagnosed with the virus, quarantined under a COVID-19 order, or died because of confirmed or possible coronavirus infection — the employer must take a series of steps. All employees at the worksite must be notified in writing, in English and the dominant language of the workplace, and the employer must “make every reasonable effort necessary to notify workers verbally,” the bill says.
Worker representatives would have to be notified, and along with workers, be told of any existing options for exposed employees to take leave, as well as disinfecting plans the employer intends to follow before reopening.
The employer would also have to tell state health and safety authorities how many workers, and in which jobs, have tested or been diagnosed positive, ordered to quarantine or died from possible coronavirus infection.
California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the State Department of Public Health would have to put reported information on its websites “in a manner that allows the public to track outbreaks, the number of COVID-19 cases reported by any workplace, and the occupation of employees involved.”
Business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce are fighting the bill. “Its definition of ‘exposure’ is broad and vague, resulting in triggering ‘exposures’ in non-sensical scenarios,” a statement of opposition filed in the legislature says.
“Employers should not face potential criminal penalties for failing to provide notice in ambiguous scenarios, particularly with a disease that we do not yet understand well and can be asymptomatic,” the groups said. MERCURY NEWS
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