As the September 14, 2023, deadline to pass bills during the current session of the California Legislature fast approaches, the California Senate and Assembly are considering several employment law bills. Many are likely to pass. Below is a summary of some of the more significant bills.
On August 28, 2023, California State Senator Dave Cortese (D-15) announced last-minute amendments to Senate Bill (SB) No. 553. SB 553, if enacted, would require virtually every employer in California to adopt comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans, starting on July 1, 2024.
On August 30, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a proposed rule that would change the scope of who would be allowed to participate in walkarounds conducted as part of OSHA inspections. Specifically, the proposed rule would modify 29 C.F.R. § 1903.8(c) to expand the definition of what types of “third parties,” such as community activists and union representatives, may accompany a Compliance Safety and Health Officer (CSHO) during an OSHA inspection. The public comment period for the proposed rule ends on October 30, 2023.”
Though heralded as one of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) top priorities, the introduction of a heat injury and illness prevention standard has yet to happen. According to some reports, OSHA has yet to reach the halfway point in the process of establishing a heat standard.
The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Nevada OSHA) seeks to implement a new regulation aimed at preventing heat-related illnesses and ensuring the well-being of workers in the state. While this regulation did not pass during the 2023 legislative session, it may still be brought during a special session. Nevada OSHA may still issue citations related to heat-related illnesses under its general duty clause.
On August 17, 2023, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) Standards Board held its monthly meeting and received public comments on the proposed indoor heat illness prevention standard. Multiple stakeholders expressed concerns about the proposed regulation’s overbroad scope, lack of scientific data to support the control measures, and foreseeable undue burden on employers.
The Hawaiian island of Maui has been ravaged by unprecedented and quickly moving wildfires, which have taken a particular toll on hospitality employers. As the U.S. enters peak hurricane season, the Hawaiian and Canadian wildfires and the flooding caused by the recent California tropical storm serve as a reminder for employers to consider implementation or revision of their disaster plans, among other legal and practical considerations.
On August 7, 2023, the Illinois Department of Labor filed emergency rules and proposed permanent rules to implement House Bill 2862 (Public Act 103-0437), which amended the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act.
The Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH) has unveiled a new comprehensive state emphasis program (SEP) aimed at mitigating heat-related illnesses and injuries at both indoor and outdoor workplaces.
On August 9, 2023, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) convened an advisory committee to provide input on proposed emergency changes to Title 8, section 5204, Occupational Exposures to Respirable Crystalline Silica, of the California Code of Regulations.
On August 4, 2023, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) issued its notice to amend the existing Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations to add section 3396, heat illness prevention in indoor places of employment. The Standards Board received public comments regarding the proposed regulation on May 19, 2023. On August 4,2023, the Standards Board opened the 15-day notice comment period, which ends on August 22, 2023.
On July 20, 2023, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Cal/OSHA Standards Board) held its monthly meeting and received public comments on Petition File No. 597, a proposal to amend Title 8, General Industry Safety Orders, Section 5204 of the California Code of Regulations to require stricter control measures concerning respirable crystalline silica exposure for workers in the engineered stone fabrication industry.
On July 20, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would amend 29 C.F.R. 1926.95(c) to require construction employers to make personal protective equipment available that “properly fits” their employees.
On Monday, July 17, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a long-anticipated update to its rule requiring electronic submission of injury and illness data. The updated rule goes into effect on January 1, 2024, and will require employers in “high-hazard industries” with 100 or more employees to submit both their OSHA Form 300 and Form 301 electronically using OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA).
Recently, the United States General Accounting Office (GAO), which is a nonpartisan agency in the legislative branch, took on oversight of the executive branch agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In this case, the GAO is making recommendations that OSHA take actions to protect meat and poultry workers from COVID-19 (though the actual recommendations relate to infectious diseases as a whole).
On July 13, 2023, OSHA announced a national emphasis program directed at warehousing and distribution center operations.
On June 14, 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law House Bill No. 2127, the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act—a measure that his opponents have dubbed the “Death Star” law. The law will go into effect on September 1, 2023.
On June 28, 2023, the California State Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment held a hearing on Senate Bill (SB) 553, which if passed as drafted, would establish workplace violence prevention standards applicable to virtually every employer in California.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 each year. This year, in mid-June, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published the “Hurricane eMatrix,” a hazard exposure and risk assessment tool that provides employers with a host of suggestions and guidance to prepare for hurricane season, and, perhaps more importantly, to
On June 1, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a Local Emphasis Program (LEP) impacting “seafood processing operations and related merchant wholesaler operations in two targeted North American Industry Classification System codes (NAICS): 311710, 311711 and 311712 Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging, and 424460 Fish and Seafood Merchant Wholesalers.”
On May 19, 2023, the Illinois General Assembly passed substantial amendments to the Day and Temporary Labor Services Act, 820 ILCS 175, through House Bill (HB) 2862. The amendments expand the rights of day and temporary workers and mandate increased safety oversight by both day and temporary labor service agencies and third-party clients that utilize such workers.
On June 14, 2023, House Bill (HB) No. 915—a bill the Texas Legislature passed on May 30, 2023—became law. HB 915 adds Chapter 104A, “Reporting Workplace Violence,” to the Texas Labor Code and requires all employers, regardless of size, to post a notice to employees regarding the reporting of instances of workplace violence or suspicious activity.
Tennessee has permanently extended its COVID-19 statute under an enactment that removed the sunset provision of the state’s COVID-19 statute, which was set to expire on July 1, 2023.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is preparing to engage in rulemaking that would revive the policy contained in the “Fairfax Memo” of 2013, which permitted union representatives to accompany OSHA compliance officers on inspections of nonunion workplaces.
On May 30, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a significant decision addressing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) use of the “General Duty Clause.”
On June 8, 2023, the final version of the Mexican Official Standard NOM-037-STPS-2023 Telework-Safety and Health Conditions (NOM-037) was published in Mexico’s Official Gazette of the Federation.
From January through May 2023, 18,015 fires burned approximately 510,000 acres across the United States, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). Wildfires on the west coast have become so prevalent that the safety and health regulatory agencies in California, Oregon, and Washington have promulgated regulations specific to hazards associated with wildfire smoke.
On May 30, 2023, the Texas Legislature sent legislation to Governor Greg Abbott that will require employers in Texas to post notice to employees about reporting instances of workplace violence or suspicious activity. The legislation is expected to receive final approval in the coming days.
On May 24, 2023, Governor Tina Kotek signed into law legislation raising the maximum penalties for workplace fatality–related citations in Oregon far above federal limits. The law took effect immediately.
On June 5, 2023, Substitute Bill No. 913 was enacted as Public Act (PA) No. 23-35, “An Act Expanding Workers’ Compensation Coverage for Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries for All Employees.”
