The Commonwealth of Virginia passed a temporary emergency workplace standard relating to COVID that became effective as of July 27, 2020. Just this past week, effective January 27, 2021, Virginia has enacted a permanent workplace standard. This new and permanent 58-page standard is set forth in Section 16VAC25-220 of the Virginia Administrative Code and includes most of what was in the temporary standard with some new exclusions, among them:
- No enforcement actions will be brought against employers that are making good-faith efforts to secure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that is in short supply.
- It scales back the requirement to report every single positive COVID-19 case to the Virginia Department of Health to “outbreaks” of two or more cases.
- It eliminates test-based return-to-work requirements, leaving employers with a time-based requirement only.
- It makes the time-based return-to-work requirement consistent with CDC guidance that reduced the requirement from 10 days with three symptom-free days to 10 days with only one symptom-free day.
- It provides alternative controls to the requirement for employers to comply with respiratory standards when multiple employees travel in work vehicles together, in light of shortages of N-95 and other filtering facepiece respirators.
I recommend that you read all 58 pages of regulations in their entirety and that you consult a Virginia attorney to assist you in navigating a practical plan for compliance with these somewhat vague regulations.
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