California lawmakers are advancing bills to ban employers from preventing workers from wearing masks or respirators, place new restrictions and certification requirements on stone fabrication shops to protect workers from crystalline silica, and require an academic study and new advisory panel on understaffing and vacancies at Cal/OSHA.
November 15, 2026
Employer attorneys are generally praising recently published guidance documents by New York’s Department of Labor (NYDOL) for companies to comply with the state’s new retail worker violence-prevention rules, but some say questions remain over several key provisions including training requirements related to active-shooter drills.
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Employer attorneys are seeing mixed results in key revisions to California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) draft workplace violence-prevention rules, welcoming the removal of language barring employers from requiring employees to confront individuals suspected of committing a crime while criticizing an updated definition of “workplace violence hazards.”
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A New Jersey steel fabricator is seeking summary judgment in its lawsuit claiming that Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) review of enforcement actions is unconstitutional, an early test for Trump officials on whether federal courts must review enforcement actions or the panel’s administrative law judges (ALJs).
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is weighing a petition from construction industry groups to delay by one year the July 1 effective date of controversial regulatory amendments to the state’s fall-protection standard for residential construction workers that aim to meet federal OSHA’s requirements.
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Aiming to provide more compliance clarity for the construction industry, California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) is laying out new guidance for employers to comply with tougher lead exposure-prevention worker-safety rules that took effect Jan. 1, specifically applying to employees conducting dry abrasive blasting.
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California lawmakers continue to advance worker safety-related bills, including a measure to prohibit employers from preventing workers from wearing masks or respirators if it is safe, and another to bar employers from relying on automated decision-making systems (ADS) to make a variety of employment decisions without human oversight.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is proposing the formation of a special panel to recommend actions to help fill voids in worker safety that may be created by the Trump administration’s near-elimination of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), including certifying personal protective equipment (PPE).
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California state senators are advancing a labor-backed bill to bar employers from relying on automated decision-making systems (ADS) to make a variety of employment decisions -- including those aimed at aiding worker safety -- without human oversight.
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Employer representatives are providing updated recommendations to California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) over its pending new policy to implement tougher penalties for “egregious” and “enterprise-wide” violations, fearing particularly punishing monetary fines for minor infractions across multiple sites.
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