California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has narrowly voted to recommend that agency staff add “exclusion pay” requirements to a forthcoming long-term infectious disease standard for general industry, renewing debate over the mandate after officials dropped it from new COVID-19 safety standards.
September 16, 2026
Employer representatives and worker-safety advocates are targeting a host of upcoming California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) draft safety rules for scrutiny and likely policy battles, including standards for lead exposures, workplace violence, indoor heat, and a permanent infectious disease standard that is expected to include a controversial “exclusion pay” requirement.
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Groups that advocate for domestic workers are intensifying pressure on California lawmakers and regulators to pursue first-time workplace safety standards for the sector, following a Jan. 9 webinar where they expressed frustration with a California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) official who overstated current protections for domestic work.
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Employer attorneys are preparing for California’s first steps to implement several new worker-safety laws slated to take effect in 2023, including measures extending COVID-19 sick-leave requirements and new mandates for protecting employees during certain “emergency” events.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has approved final COVID-19 worker-safety rules, despite ongoing unease among key stakeholder groups -- including labor representatives unhappy that an “exclusion pay” requirement was left out of the standard, and employers who fear that mandate will return in a future rule for general infectious diseases.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board is easing requirements in its final proposed update to first-aid kit requirements for general industry and construction firms pertaining to the type of container required, but is maintaining a mandate to check the kits weekly despite employer representatives’ continued opposition.
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A California OSHA (Cal/OSHA) advisory committee and agency staff are poised to finalize joint recommendations to state lawmakers for policies to protect the health and safety of privately employed household domestic service workers, as well as voluntary guidelines for the sector targeting both workers and employers.
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California lawmakers signaled at a recent hearing that they are open to new legislation that would speed up worker-safety rulemakings and bolster enforcement at the state’s OSHA (Cal/OSHA), after labor representatives complained that several critical safety standards are taking years to complete and enforcement is lacking at best in many key sectors.
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California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board members are grudgingly accepting that the agency will not restore “exclusion pay” requirements in its long-term COVID-19 worker-safety standard, after staffers told them inserting the benefit would delay the rule by at least seven months -- which would leave no coronavirus standard in place as of Jan. 1.
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Employer attorneys are touting what they say are California’s extensive worker pay and job protections in defense of Cal/OSHA’s proposal to drop “exclusion pay” requirements from its final COVID-19 safety standard, after labor groups and their allies -- including members of the agency standards board -- have pushed to restore those mandates.
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