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Webinars to educate local businesses on two new California COVID-19 labor laws will begin Tuesday, Dec. 29, with two additional webinars scheduled for Jan. 7 and 21.
Presented by the Imperial Valley Business Recovery Task Force in partnership with the Imperial County Public Health Department and Cal/OSHA, the webinars will feature presentations by labor law, health, and environmental services experts. Sessions in English will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. while Spanish-language sessions will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
To register at no cost to participating businesses, visit www.ivbizrecovery.com or www.facebook.com/ivbusinessrecoverytaskforce. Participants will receive complimentary labor law posters, access to designated testing times, masks, sanitizers, and access to contact tracing technology.
The labor laws to be addressed are AB 685 and SB 1159. AB 685 addresses requirements for COVID-19 outbreaks in the workplace. SB 1159 addresses reporting requirements and Workers’ Compensation-related issues resulting from COVID-19 illnesses. Penalties are substantial for businesses that fail to comply with the new laws.
The webinars are part of Partners in Health, a three-phase program funded by the Local Health Authority. The program will be assisting Imperial Valley businesses with workplace and employee safety, implementation of HIPAA-compliant and business-tested contact tracing software, and access to free COVID-19 testing for participating partner employees.
The program’s goal is to engage businesses and help them find a balance between physical and economic health in the Imperial Valley community.
The program’s first phase, which launches with the Dec. 29 webinar, is to train participating businesses on state mandates, exposure notifications, the use of county Health Department workplace reporting tools, and compliance with Cal/OSHA employee and workplace safety protocols.
In the second phase, the Partners in Health program will assist businesses with symptom-tracking technologies that reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 while protecting the privacy of employees.
The third phase is to coordinate with the county Public Health Department in providing employers with educational and legislative materials, train businesses regarding reporting protocols, inform participating businesses about pop-up testing events, and arrange dedicated times for testing employees.
For more information, visit the Task Force’s website or Facebook page, at www.ivbizrecovery.com or www.facebook.com/ivbusinessrecoverytaskforce.
