Eliminating a major stumbling block to his plan for a smooth reopening of the California economy, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Thursday that he said would allow vaccinated workers in most jobs to go mask free Friday.
Newsom signed the order following a vote from California’s workplace safety board to align its rules for businesses and employees with the state’s reopening guidelines. Newsom’s order skirts a 10-day delay that would have been required under regulator Cal/OSHA’s rules and offers employers more clarity.
“It’s great. I’m much happier now. I’m ready to move forward,” said Dan McCranie, owner of Ladera Grill in Morgan Hill. “Nobody covered themselves in glory in this thing.”
The vote capped weeks of confusing flip-flops by the board, which first put more stringent rules in place that would have required all workers, regardless of their vaccination status, to wear masks if anyone in the room was unvaccinated. The board then reversed itself last week, reverting temporarily to its initial rule requiring masks for all workers not alone in a room. Finally, the board on Thursday approved new rules that require only unvaccinated workers to continue to wear masks.
The only ‘no’ vote came from board member Laura Stock, whose concerns about continued workplace outbreaks, the dangerous new Delta coronavirus variant and large numbers of unvaccinated workers echoed the worries of many employee representatives calling into the agency’s meeting.
“No matter how tired we are of restrictions, the pandemic is not over,” Stock said.
But employer representatives expressed concerns that continued restrictions by Cal/OSHA would harm California’s economic recovery, and many called for the agency to rely on increasing vaccination numbers to keep people safe.
Newsom’s office said Thursday evening that the new rules had already gone into effect.
Eric Berg, deputy chief of research and standards for Cal/OSHA, said in Thursday’s meeting that the new rules would take away “burdensomeness” from employers while “providing robust protection of employees.” Still, Berg noted a “significant percentage” of workers, particularly low-income workers and workers of color, are not fully vaccinated. Masks are still required for jobs in certain environments, including transit, K-12 schools and health care facilities — just as they are under the state’s guidelines.
The California Department of Industrial Relations, which includes Cal/OSHA, said last week that “employers must verify and document the vaccination status of fully vaccinated employees if they do not wear face coverings indoors.” But the board Thursday offered no further guidance for employers.
Newsom has said he expected verification of workers’ vaccination status to be a matter of self-attestation, adding that he hoped people would be honest. Berg also said self-attestation by employees is an option for employers.
The new rules remove the requirement for partitions in workplaces where people cannot be kept distanced. Employers will also have to provide face coverings for employees at no cost upon request and must ensure that unvaccinated workers wear them indoors and in vehicles. Businesses must provide N-95 respirators or the equivalent upon request to unvaccinated employees. Physical distancing would only be required after major outbreaks.
Callers during Thursday’s meeting broke down mainly between representatives of employers and workers.
Employer representatives generally supported self-attestation of employees vaccination status. They argued that vaccination should be the primary method for combating workplace infections, said masks for unvaccinated workers would foster divisions among employees, and said requiring employers to provide N-95 masks for unvaccinated employees was an unnecessary burden.
“This leaves employers and employees to mitigate COVID,” said Helen Cleary, associate director of the Phlymar Regulatory Roundtable.
California Chamber of Commerce policy advocate Rob Moutrie noted that the vaccines in the U.S. are believed effective against the new coronavirus Delta variant. Business representatives also raised concerns that self-attestation could lead to liability for employers and asked that a form be developed for employees to report their vaccination status.
Labor representatives pointed to ongoing workplace outbreaks, the emerging threat of the Delta variant, and argued that self-attestation is not guaranteed to be reliable.
Mitch Steiger, a legislative advocate for the California Labor Federation, AFL- CIO, said cutting the mask requirement for vaccinated workers would sicken many workers and kill some, particularly in rural California and areas with low vaccination rates. “We will literally have decided to sacrifice workers’ lives in order to spare employers the inconvenience of looking at a vaccination card,” he said.
