California Partner Discusses State’s Forthcoming Infectious Disease Regulations

In an interview with SHRM, Hannah Sweiss shares her insight on a forthcoming draft by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) that will outline new infectious-disease regulations. One sticking point between labor groups and employers in the draft is exclusion pay, which allows workers excluded from the workplace to keep their pay and benefits. Exclusion pay may occur when a worker is not allowed to come to work because of an infection, a mandated quarantine, or exposure to an infected person.

Hannah explains that the unlimited nature of exclusion pay has been costly for businesses and that "employers generally have been working hard to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but the high expenses have been challenging." According to employer advocates, it can be difficult to prove where an employee contracted the virus. Therefore, they say it’s unfair to require exclusion pay when an employee was infected outside the workplace.

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