A coalition of agriculture and business groups has filed a lawsuit that challenges the recently passed CAL/OSHA emergency temporary standards (ETS), alleging the board has exceeded its jurisdiction by superseding mandates from state and federal authorities.
The coalition is seeking a preliminary injunction to allow the business community bona fide participation in the process that creates such standards, Jason Resnick, senior vice president and general counsel with the Western Growers Association, told the Northern California Record.
Western Growers filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court Dec. 30, along with the California Association of Winegrape Growers, California Business Roundtable, California Farm Bureau Federation, Grower-Shipper Association of Central California, and the Ventura County Agricultural Association.
“The basis of the lawsuit is the [CAL/OSHA] standards board and OAL [Office of Administrative Law] did not follow the California Administrative Procedure Act in enacting the regulations, and violated due process of the Constitution,” Resnick said. “We are asking the state to pause and rethink the implications of the standards.”
The petition for the regulations was filed May 20. Board staff first recommended denial of the petition, then in November board members adopted temporary but not permanent standards.
“While no one doubts that the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes a public health emergency, the Board failed to provide substantial evidence or a reasoned explanation as to why these ‘emergency regulations’ are necessary to avert immediate and serious workplace harm, why the Board delayed, for months, before deciding that there was an urgent need to promulgate the ETS on five working days’ notice, or why the ETS was even needed at all,” the suit states. “In fact, the staff of the Board advised its members to reject the request for an ETS, as additional COVID-19 related workplace rules would do little to protect workers, and would create needless confusion as to employers’ compliance obligations under existing law.”
The plaintiffs allege the standards will lead to unintended consequences with vaccine rollout and food supplies.
“The new ETS issued by CalOSHA and approved by Governor Newsom, while well-intentioned, may delay rapid distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and create food shortages across the state and potentially nationwide,” Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said in a news release.