Despite California’s strict government interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s economy is poised for post-pandemic growth at a faster rate than the rest of the U.S, says a new report from the University of California-Los Angeles Anderson School of Management.

但是，承包商和其他雇主将不得不涉足各种政府实体的工作场所要求，包括CAL/OSHA以及州和地方的其他人。

“自从大流行引起的衰退开始于去年三月开始，我们已经说，大流行的过程以及公共卫生政策对经济预测至关重要。”和经济学家莱拉·孟加拉（Leila Bengali）。

The report analyzes the future effects of California’s more restrictive non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) on the state’s economy.

While the state has higher unemployment than in the U.S. overall, California is expected to grow faster than the rest of the country once restrictions are lifted, says the report, which assumes a large portion of the population will receive the vaccine by this summer. Technology sectors, residential construction and logistics are expected to lead California’s recovery.

“In spite of the recession, the continued demand for a limited housing stock coupled with low interest rates lead to a forecast of a relatively rapid return of homebuilding,” says the report, which expects 123,000 net new units in 2021, up 16.2% from 2020, and 132,000 units in 2023. “Needless to say, this level of home building means that the prospect for the private sector building out of the housing affordability problem over the next three years is nil.”

重叠法规

In the meantime, some California contractors are scrambling to meet and understand Cal/OSHA’s emergency regulations that went into effect on Nov. 30 at the same time they are preparing forAB 685’s COVID-19 Notification Requirements, effective Jan. 1. AB 685 compels employers to provide notice to employees and others of worksite “potential exposure to COVID-19.”

Cal/OSHA’s紧急标准, adopted by its standards board last month, added employer requirements to create written prevention programs, testing and reporting components on top of current local mandates that vary across cities and counties, and apply to most workers not covered by Cal/OSHA’s Aerosol Transmissible Diseases standard.

CAL/OSHA标准表示，雇主必须将Covid-19-19的工作场所雇员排除在工作场所的员工中，并且具有独立的最小时间表的工作场所曝光的员工，并恢复工作标准。

根据该标准，雇主必须“维护雇员的收入，资历和所有其他员工权利和福利，包括员工的以前工作状况，就好像没有从工作中撤职。”雇主可以使用雇主提供的病假，并可以考虑其他公共福利支付来源“在确定如何维持收入，权利和福利的情况下，在法律允许的情况下以及工人赔偿不涵盖的情况下。”

在12月9日的联合承包商网络研讨会上，与会者对法规的要求表示关注，要求雇主向通过其工作场所进行阳性或暴露于病毒的工人提供“排除工资”。大型湾区承包商集团首席执行官马克·布雷斯林（Mark Breslin）表示，这与《排除薪资》无限期限和不可预测的成本影响有关，并将在CAL/OSHA即将举行的利益相关者会议上表达担忧。

Rachel Conn, a Nixon Peabody LLP associate in San Francisco who specializes in labor and employment law, says the Cal/OSHA regulation’s definition of “exposed workplace” raises questions, since it is not limited to people actually exposed but is broader to include workplace areas and locations where the COVID positive worker was – but also to workers present but not necessarily exposed through close contact.

疾病控制中心将紧密的接触定义为受感染者6英尺以内的人至少15分钟，从疾病发作前两天开始（对于无症状的客户，在阳性测试前两天），直到患者隔离为止。Cal/OSHA的裸露工作场所标准不包括COVID-19案件未输入的建筑物或设施。

Conn says "an exposed workplace could mean, for example, the whole working area of a construction site could potentially be an exposed workplace if those were areas that the COVID case was present, but let’s say nobody comes in close contact. Those count, even though no one came into close contact with that person,” she says.

Conn认为CAL/OSHA和AB 685的通知要求之间的潜在重叠。这意味着承包商将需要满足CAL/OSHA和AB 685与员工有关工作场所暴露的沟通要求。尽管要求相似，但存在差异。

加州职业安全健康管理局不需要通知文书ten. Its notification requirement says employers must alert employees and others present in the workplace of "potential COVID-19 exposure" - anyone who may have come in close contact with the positive person - within one business day. Meanwhile, AB 685 requires communication to be sent to anyone who was on the worksite where a COVID-19 positive was present, even if they were not necessarily exposed.

Dwayne P. McKenzie, a partner in Cox, Castle & Nicholson’s Los Angeles office, says a primary concern about the Cal/OSHA emergency standards stems from the extent to which there are no limits on the earnings amount employers are required to maintain for COVD-19 cases and employees with COVID-19 exposure.

“但是这些担忧可能通商gated as a practical matter from what we have seen about the typical duration of the illness and the 14-day period that employees with COVID-19 exposure would be excluded from the workplace,” says McKenzie, who notes that costs for higher wage employees could be higher than the limits already set by other COVID-19 sick leave requirements.

McKenzie says if employers knew the same conditions would continue next year and perhaps after, there would be more pressure to challenge the standards. But a vaccine marks the “light at the end of the tunnel” that may cause some who might consider challenging the regulations to instead move through the months ahead, she says.

“I think the question will be whether a particular group of employers or industry see enough potential liability that they want to challenge it as in excess of Cal/OSHA’s authority,” adds Dwayne P. McKenzie, a Los Angeles partner in Cox, Castle & Nicholson. “We’re in an interesting period as to that potential liability, because on one hand we are seeing the highest number of cases that we have seen, while on the other hand the hope is that with the roll-out of vaccines will allow us to get the virus under control next year.”

Test, Test, Test

Scott Brauninger, chief operating officer at San Francisco-based Build Group Inc., says the Cal/OSHA standard is flawed and should make exception for employers who have testing systems that comply with CDC requirements in place. Since July, Build Group has offered 20,000 free tests to all employees and subcontractors, with testing done at least once a week at every jobsite.

“Almost all of our positive test results occur before symptoms; like 99%,” says Brauninger. “Once a testing program is implemented on projects, we have seen positivity go to near zero after just two weeks.”

他说，测试使承包商和客户可以保持连续的操作。他说：“测试还提供了准确的数据，可以防止未来可能没有投保的行动进行成功的工作。”“这将是巨额资金，我们不明白雇主如何意识到测试是获得与这些案件作斗争所需数据的唯一方法。”

麦肯齐说，承包商可以做的最好的事情是继续遵守现有的保障措施，尤其是身体上的距离，以防止员工获得19日的暴露。

麦肯齐说：“如果雇主能够维持雇员的身体距离，他们可以限制Covid-19的雇员人数，这些雇员数量需要被排除在工作场所之外，并有权根据紧急标准获得赔偿。”

Employers should also implement other COVID-19 sick leave requirements (like the benefits under the Federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, California Labor Code, workers compensation, etc.) so that the amounts paid to employees under existing obligations will also satisfy Cal OSHA’s emergency standard.

R.D. Olson Construction is focusing on jobsite density, social distancing, masks, temperature checks and other safety protocols. The process to implement these new procedures to comply with regulations has been “relatively smooth," the contractor says.

“适当的距离是我们的主要重点之一。”公司总裁比尔·威廉说。“我们必须意识到有多少工人在脚手架上，如果他们是合适的距离，并且那个人升级的电梯并没有使人们过于接近距离。”

Dan Rogers, president of Blach Construction, says the regulations have been fairly straightforward. “That said, regulations coming from the Centers for Disease Control, the state and the counties all differ. It would be preferable if at least the state and counties were more unified in their directives.”

The Tunnel’s End

威廉（Wilhelm）担心，由于积极的测试，社区的蔓延可能导致其劳动力降低，尽管R.D. Olson由于大流行而没有看到更高的缺勤率，即使在一般来说，一般来说，合格的手工艺工人的短缺。

R.D. Olson在过去八个月中的收入“从全球意义上”下降，因为由于许可，银行法规和整体成本，项目被取消或延迟。18luck官网18luck.cub威廉说：“法规以及不断增加的协证数字可以而且很可能会影响建筑进度，物质可用性和人力，”在材料方面，供需不平衡会带来挑战。”

But he adds that R.D. Olson's outlook is promising and, while anticipating challenges in next year’s first and second quarters, he is optimistic for the third quarter and beyond thanks to available vaccines.

“这一切都始于每个承包商的家庭基地，”威廉说。“如果我们都可以团结起来，专注于承担责任，将彼此视为人类，那么我们将更加强大，并更早地看到这个充满挑战的时间的另一面。”

同时，尽管流行不佳，但布拉赫的项目仍在18luck官网继续，尽管遵守PPE和卫生协议，但提高了经商成本，但提高效率已经达到了平衡的成本。18luck.cub

布拉赫（Blach）在大多数教育项目及其网关上看到了以运输为导向的开发的米尔布雷站（Millbrae Station B18luck官网art）的大多数教育项目。但是，当客户确定未来的办公空间时，一些18luck官网工作场所项目遇到了“停顿”，同时招待项目很难找到融资。