California Employers Must Notify Workers of Covid-19 Exposure

California will soon require employers to notify workers if an employee tests positive for Covid-19.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday signed a bill (A.B. 685) mandating that notice and also allowing the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) to shut down a work site if the coronavirus poses an “imminent hazard” through Jan. 1, 2023. The law doesn’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2021.

“The population of essential workers that are most at risk for exposure to Covid-19 are those who can least afford to get sick,” Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes (D), the bill’s ...