©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2025 Cal-Peculiarities | 383 employees annually by May 1, and must provide training before any employee begin work reasonably anticipated to cause exposure to substantial dust disturbance.31 14.16 Wildfire Smoke Protection Cal/OSHA’s emergency regulation to protect workers from wildfire smoke went into effect in July 2019. The regulation applies to outdoor workplaces where the current Air Quality Index (AQI) for airborne particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller (PM2.5) is 151 or greater, and where employers should reasonably anticipate that employees could be exposed to wildfire smoke. However, employers with employees who are exposed to an AQI of 151 or greater for less than one hour during a shift are exempt. Other exemptions apply such as, for example, situations in which employees are in enclosed vehicles in which the air is filtered by a cabin air filter and windows and doors are kept closed. Under the regulation, covered employers must provide training and instruction to employees about wildfire smoke, and reduce worker exposure to wildfire smoke in various ways such as providing enclosed buildings or vehicles where the air is filtered, relocating work to a location with better air quality if practicable, and providing respiratory protective equipment.32 14.17 Protection From Covid-19 14.17.1 Cal/OSHA Non-Emergency Covid-19 Standard As of February 3, 2025, there is no longer a specific set of regulatory requirements relating to Covid-19 prevention in the workplace. Employers will still be required to maintain a safe and healthful place of employment as required by Labor Code section 6400, and they must establish, implement, and maintain an effective injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) as required by Title 8, California Code of Regulations, section 3203.33 14.17.2 Covid-19 Notifications and Reporting The requirement for California employers to notify employees when there had been a Covid-19 case identified in the workplace, regardless of whether the employees were identified as “close contacts,” was repealed as of January 1, 2024, along with the requirement to retain records of written notices. Until February 3, 2025, employers were required to track their employees’ Covid-19 cases on a log with certain specified information.34 14.18 Beefed Up Enforcement Rulemaking is underway to develop regulations implementing Cal/OSHA’s grant of increased enforcement power under legislation effective January 1, 2022. The 2022 law created a rebuttable presumption that an employer with multiple worksites has committed an “enterprise-wide” violation if Cal/OSHA determines that either of the following factors “is true”:35 (1) The employer has a non-compliant written policy or procedure, or (2) Cal/OSHA “has evidence of a pattern or practice of the same violation or violations committed by that employer involving more than one of the employer’s worksites.” This presumption has the effect of creating an enterprise-wide violation for any written policy and procedure violations unless an employer can show that its other worksites have different, compliant, written policies and procedures. Appeal of an enterprise-wide violation will stay abatement, but if the violation is affirmed, abatement will be required across all of the employer’s California worksites. Enterprise-wide citations will carry the same penalties as willful or repeated citations, i.e., up to $134,334 per violation. The employer may be given a notice of the above violations if the violations do not have direct or immediate relationship to the health or safety of an
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