Labor groups warn of loophole in Virginia's COVID-19 workplace safety rules

With a vote expected Wednesday on Virginia’s first-in-the-nation workplace pandemic safety regulations, employers and labor groups are at odds over a provision that would allow businesses to disregard the new rules if they instead follow all CDC guidelines for their industry.

Advocates for workers, including the AFL-CIO and Legal Aid Justice Center, called the language a loophole that will allow employers to skirt otherwise strict regulations that mandate social distancing, employee training and workplace hazard assessments.

Meanwhile business groups called it a sensible approach, noting many workplaces have already adopted the Centers for Disease Control guidelines.

“I think they were trying to recognize that businesses have already put in place a lot of the protocols recommended by the CDC,” said Nicole Riley, the Virginia director of the National Federation for Independent Businesses. “We just think that’s a good way to do it without having to reinvent the wheel for a lot of businesses and creating regulatory burdens that aren’t necessary.”

Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2020/07/15/labor-groups-warn-of-loophole-in-virginias-covid-19-workplace-safety-rules/