SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California workplace regulators extended the state's coronavirus pandemic regulations into next year with revisions that businesses say could worsen the labor shortage.
The main change in the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board’s revised rule Thursday erases current distinctions between vaccinated and unvaccinated employees. Both will be prohibited from workplaces if they come in close contact with someone infected with the virus.
Exposed workers who are vaccinated but asymptomatic will have to stay home for 14 days even if they test negative.
Mitch Steiger, an advocate for the California Labor Federation, said while he supports the mandate extension, he believes that it could have been made stronger. He believes that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 should be allowed to recover from home regardless of their vaccination status.
Those vaccinated are currently exempted from exclusionary pay, Steiger said. This means that those vaccinated who were exposed to COVID-19 may still be required to go to work if they wear a face covering and are asymptomatic and are exempted from exclusionary pay.
If they return to work, they will have to wear masks and stay 6 feet from other people else for two weeks.
"Without that being there and covering all workers, workers are going to have to work while sick, they may feel like they have no choice," Steiger said. "And then infect their co-workers, may spread the virus to the public and just overall go in the wrong direction that we think things should be headed in."
Those unvaccinated will be able to collect a paycheck while recovering from the coronavirus.
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