Monthly Archives: November 2020

November 17: NJ Executive Order 192 – What are the New COVID-19 Protections for Workers?

This week's webinar focused on Executive Order (EO) 192 which Governor Murphy signed on October 28 and went into effect on November 5. The EO, one of the strongest in the country, mandates a series of COVID-19 protections for workers in both public and private sector employment settings. There were more than 97 people who attended this webinar. This week we were  joined by: Lou Kimmel, Executive Director of New Labor who spoke to the success of  EO 192 after a six-month campaign by the Protect NJ Workers Coalition. The EO expands worker protections by requiring employers to establish social distancing protocols, provide masks and hand sanitizer at no cost to employees, develop a notification system for any known COVID workplace exposure, routinely clean and disinfect all high-touch areas in accordance with CDC and DOH guidelines, conduct health checks, and send home sick employees in compliance with applicable leave laws. A worker who still finds themselves in a situation where their employer is not following the EO and whose health and safety is at risk can file an EO Violation with the Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL and the Department of Health (DOH) will review the complaint, and if necessary, the business can be [...]

By |2020-11-19T19:06:44-05:00November 19th, 2020|Covid-19 Webinars|Comments Off on November 17: NJ Executive Order 192 – What are the New COVID-19 Protections for Workers?

November 10: A COVID Health & Safety Conversation with Peg Seminario

This week, we were joined by Peg Seminario, Former Director of Occupational Safety and Health for the AFL-CIO from 1990 until her retirement in 2019. Peg talked about the failure of federal OSHA to protect workers from not issuing an emergency infectious disease standard to not requiring employers to report workplace COVID cases and the general lack of inaction in the early days. She also noted  that neither the federal or state governments have established data collection systems to track COVID cases in the workplace. Recommendations she made for OSHA included issuing an infectious disease emergency standard, using the Illness and Injury Reporting and Record Keeping rule to report COVID cases in the workplace, and, most importantly, aggressively enforcing standards and protections for workers that are already in place. She emphasized the important role of educating and empowering workers and how local communities can come together to demand change. More than 85 people attended this webinar. RESOURCES Here is the NJ DOL factsheet on COVID-19 Scenarios & Benefits Available Join WEC at COSHCON 2020 hosted by the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health December 1 - 3 and 8 - 10.

By |2020-11-12T16:16:53-05:00November 12th, 2020|Covid-19, Covid-19 Webinars|Comments Off on November 10: A COVID Health & Safety Conversation with Peg Seminario
Go to Top