BREAKING NEWS: Virginia's COVID Workplace Safety Standard Revoked From: Hunton Andrews Kurth Partner attorneys for the Virginia Credit Union League NOTE: Your League has closely followed news about Virginia's COVID-19 workplace safety standard. We're pleased to announce that the standard is being revoked. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have sent a number of updates related to Virginia’s workplace safety standard that were ostensibly designed to protect workers from the virus. As you know, this process has lacked clarity, flexibility, and predictability for the business community. The absence of definitive guidance from the previous administration made updating you on these evolving regulatory requirements challenging, but clearly complying with them was even more difficult. Today, we believe the direction regarding workplace safety standards is clear. Today, the Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board met in Richmond to approve revocation of the Commonwealth’s workplace safety standard to prevent COVID-19. There have been several meetings of the Board in 2022 leading up to this conclusion, but the vote at Monday’s meeting underscored a final finding that “based on scientific and medical evidence that the current widespread variants of the virus no longer constitute a grave danger to employees in the workplace." The standard will be revoked immediately upon publication in a newspaper of general circulation published in Richmond, which is proposed to occur on March 23, 2022. This standard, and other COVID-related restrictions, were a target of Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) during the campaign last fall. He highlighted feedback from private sector entities that found Virginia’s workplace safety standard to be too difficult to manage, particularly as vaccines lessened the risk of infection for employees. He also made it clear that his administration will support and respect those who still choose to wear masks in the workplace once the standard is repealed. Under Governor Ralph Northam (D), the Safety and Health Codes Board made Virginia the first state in the country to develop regulations targeting COVID-19 mitigation in the workplace, a move which was praised by organized labor, and largely opposed by the private sector. Additionally, the Board has developed a draft guidance document (attached), which will take effect once the workplace safety standard is no longer in effect. It encourages employers to facilitate vaccines and booster shots, and highlights standards that are still required under the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health (VOSH) Program. The document also provides a listing of resources available to employees and employers through the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
