Vote Smart's Synopsis:

The bill authorizes the state of California to keep the details of COVID-19 outbreaks in the workplace a secret.

Highlights:

• Defines “infectious period” as the time a qualifying individual is infectious, as defined by the State Department of Public Health (Sec. 1.d-4).

• Prohibits an entry into an organization if a place of employment, machine, device, apparatus, or equipment is in a dangerous condition, is not properly guarded, or is dangerously placed to constitute an imminent hazard to employees (Sec. 1.a).

• Specifies this prohibition will be issued in a way that does not materially interrupt the performance of critical governmental functions essential to ensuring public health and safety functions or the delivery of electrical power, renewable natural gas, or water (Sec. 1.b).

• Specifies if an employer or representative of the employer receives a notice of potential exposure to COVID-19, the employer will take all of the following actions within one business day of the notice of potential exposure (Sec. 2.a):

• Provide written notice to all employees, and the employers of subcontracted employees, who were on the premises at the same worksite as the qualifying individual within the infectious period that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 in a manner the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information;

• Provide written notice to the exclusive representative, if any, of qualifying individuals and employees who had close contact with the qualifying individuals;

• Provide all employees who were on the premises at the same worksite as the qualifying individual within the infectious period and the exclusive representative, if any, with information regarding COVID-19-related benefits to which the employee may be entitled under applicable federal, state, or local laws, including, but not limited to, workers’ compensation, and options for exposed employees, including COVID-19-related leave, company sick leave, state-mandated leave, supplemental sick leave, or negotiated leave provisions, as well as anti-retaliation and anti-discrimination protections of the employee; and

• Notify all employees who were on the premises at the same worksite as the qualifying individual within the infectious period, and the employers of subcontracted employees who were on the premises at the same worksite as the qualifying individual within the infectious period and the exclusive representative, if any, of the cleaning and disinfection plan that the employer is implementing per the guidelines of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the COVID-19 prevention program per the Cal-OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards.

• Prohibits an employer from mandating employees to disclose medical information unless otherwise required by law (Sec. 2.e).

• Requires the State Department of Public Health to make workplace industry information received from local public health departments according to this law available on its internet website in a manner that allows the public to track the number and frequency of COVID-19 outbreaks and the number of COVID-19 cases and outbreaks by industry reported by any workplace (Sec. 2.g).

Full Bill Text