On Wednesday, April 24, 2024, Kara Maciel, Rachel Conn, and Dan Deacon presented a webinar discussing Tips and Strategies for Preventing and Responding to Workplace Violence Incidents.

Workplace violence has been a focus for both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) for several years, as it continues to be one of the leading causes of occupational injuries in the country every year. While OSHA has no specific standard for workplace violence, the OSH Act’s General Duty Clause requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized serious hazards, and OSHA has instituted enforcement actions under its General Duty Clause after incidents of workplace violence. OSHA has also initiated a rulemaking to address workplace violence in specific industries.

California has taken the lead in implementing the first workplace violence rule in the country for general industry, requiring nearly all California employers (unless they fall under one of the limited exemptions) to establish, implement, and maintain an “effective” written workplace violence prevention plan, investigate every incident workplace violence (broadly defined), create and maintain violent incident logs, conduct annual employee and supervisor training, and abide by additional recordkeeping requirements. This general industry rule follows the Cal/OSHA regulation on Workplace Violence Prevention in Health Care.

The EEOC has also prioritized ways to effectively prevent and address workplace violence, particularly in the form of workplace harassment. And outside of OSHA and the EEOC, employers can also be held liable for workplace violence through other claims such as negligent hiring and supervision.

Participants in this webinar learned: Read More

By: Samuel Rose

While today’s Standards Board meeting did not have the same drama of the last one, it was not without newsworthy topics.

Indoor Heat

Eric Berg, Deputy Chief of Health at Cal/OSHA, provided an update on the status of the indoor heat standard. If you recall during the last Standard Board meeting, the regulation was unexpectedly pulled from the agenda in a last-minute, late-night move. We later found out that the Department of Finance determined that the compliance costs for state prisons were too high. The Standards Board nonetheless voted to approve the regulation, leaving stakeholders wondering what would happen next. For a more thorough discussion of last meeting, see our previous blog post here.

Today, we learned that Standards Board staff submitted the regulation package to the Office of Administrative Law for final review and approval. Cal/OSHA expects the package to be rejected based on the Department of Finance refusal to sign the required Form 399.

That said, Eric Berg reported that Cal/OSHA will use a Government Code provision that allows a rejected regulation package to be revised and resubmitted within 120 days. Cal/OSHA will revise the regulation to exclude state prisons and resubmit the package with no other changes. Cal/OSHA will then work to draft an indoor heat standard specifically for correctional facilities.

Cal/OSHA expects the indoor heat for general industry standard to be in effect by summer and employers should continue to prepare for the regulation to take effect. More information on the regulation is available here.

Residential Fall Protection

The stand off between the Standards Board and Fed/OSHA related to residential fall protection also continued during today’s meeting. As a reminder, Fed/OSHA has notified Cal/OSHA that its residential fall protection standard is not “as effective” as the Fed/OSHA standard. You can find additional context to this issue in our prior blog post here.

Both labor and management representatives spoke during public comment, unified in their position that California’s current regulation is safer and more effective than Fed/OSHA’s 6-foot trigger height. Many cited California’s lower injury rates from falls compared to Fed/OSHA states with similar numbers of construction workers.

Standards Board members questioned a Fed/OSHA representative about what “as effective” means, citing the lower injury rates from public comment. The Fed/OSHA representative replied that measures of efficacy are listed in the OSH Act, and injury rates are not one of the factors listed. Fed/OSHA took the position that the language of the regulation, not the results, determines whether it is “as effective.”

The Standards Board concluded the discussion by saying that Fed/OSHA is putting them in a “really bad position” because the Standards Board should not be required to make changes that make workers less safe.

The next Standards Board meeting will take place on May 16, 2024 in Sacramento, California.

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Black History Month is a time to recognize and honor the many contributions of Black Americans throughout U.S. history. Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s Chief Operating Officer, Mikel Koon, shares her dad’s accomplishments as a jazz musician against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Era – a time when Black musicians battled for recognition – when he carved a path that would become a bridge between cultures and a beacon of resilience.

Musical Career

Warren Smith is a disciplined New York-based drummer and percussionist with a long history of pitching in on various masterworks, from the recordings of soul queen Aretha Franklin to the avant-garde saxophone maverick and fascinating composer Sam Rivers. Smith has also been a longtime member of one of the great percussion projects, the Max Roach M’Boom ensemble of drummers.

His reputation has always been that of a no-nonsense, hard-working, and dedicated performer, so he is a favorite working partner of bandleaders or composers who want to present projects with an absolute minimum of hassle or attitude from their collaborators. This list includes Anthony Braxton, Charles Mingus, Henry Threadgill, Van Morrison, Count Basie, Sam Rivers, Tony Williams, and Joe Zawinul. As each new generation of players enters the ever-developing world of jazz, Warren Smith has never been one to lord over newcomers or put up barriers against innovative jazz forms; on the contrary, he seems to always be part of the crew that is out front.

During the late-’70s/early-’80s “loft jazz” scene in New York City,his Studio Wis was one of the few so-called “lofts” that actually was a loft. It was also not a “pay-to-play” loft; in other words, rather than exploit the city’s hungry musicians, Smith gave generously of his personal studio space so that talented newcomers to the New York City scene such as Oliver Lake and Wadada Leo Smith could present concerts without having to worry about outrageous rental fees. Warren Smith often attended these events, smiling wider as the music went further and further out, approaching the unknown players to pay compliments and offer advice. His work in studio sessions and Broadway pit bands made him a likely source of wisdom on all subjects related to sight reading, arranging, or composition. When a young guitarist in a group performing at Studio Wis asked for advice on sight-reading exercises after a gig in 1979, Smith‘s response was Read More

By: Samuel Rose and Rachel Conn

Standards Board Updates

While the latest Cal/OSHA Standards Board (the Board) meeting covered a wide range of topics, the upcoming vote on the controversial draft revised lead regulations was a main topic for both Cal/OSHA and other stakeholders.

Lead

Like previous meetings, the debate around the draft revised lead regulations again took center stage. A full summary of the draft revised lead regulations can be found in our previous blog post.

Cal/OSHA defended the revisions by highlighting the Environment Protection Agency’s position that no lead exposure level is safe and that the current permissible exposure level (“PEL”) of 50 µg/m³ and Action Level of 30 µg/m³ are outdated. Cal/OSHA also emphasized the various modeling methods that justify the proposed Action Level of 2 µg/m³  and PEL of 10 µg/m³. Although the California Department of Public Health has recommended a PEL range of 0.5 µg/m³  to 2.1 µg/m³ , due to feasibility concerns Cal/OSHA has proposed a higher PEL.

The Board has noticed a vote on the revised regulations for its February 15, 2024, meeting. If adopted, the Board is also expected to propose a delay to the regulations’ effective date until January 1, 2025. The delay is meant to provide employers additional time to conduct exposure assessments and monitoring for their employees.

Fall Protection in Residential Construction

The Board also held a public hearing on a potential amendment to the fall protection in the residential construction standard. This was spurred by Fed/OSHA notifying California that its standard was not “as effective” as the Fed/OSHA regulation for a variety of reasons. Relevant to the hearing, Cal/OSHA’s proposed amendments include a reduction in the trigger height to 6 feet and permitting the use of ladders and harnesses tied off. Read More

Conn Maciel Carey LLP is proud to announce that it has achieved ISO 27001 certification – a security-related benchmark issued by the International Organization for Standardization for managing security assets. It ensures that organizations have robust processes in place to identify, manage, and reduce risks to information security.

Background about ISO 27001 Certification​

At CMC, protecting the confidentiality and integrity of our client data is of prime importance. Data breaches and ransomware attacks are on the rise for many industries and organizations around the globe and law firms are no exception. ISO 27001 certification was a necessary next step to ensure that we are identifying and proactively managing risks and avoiding security threats. The certificate provides a globally recognized standard of the CMC’s data security practices encompassing all types of business data including electronic information, hard copy data, and third-party suppliers. This achievement further affirms CMC’s investment in the security of our client’s information. ​

The ISO 27001 Certification Process​ Read More