B 23-0870 — Protecting Businesses and Workers from COVID-19 Emergency Amendment Act of 2020

__________________________________ENROLLED CouncilmemberORIGINAL ElissaAN SilvermanACT 5_____________ 7 A BILL _______ IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA __________________ To require, on an emergency basis, employers to adopt and implement social distancing policies that requireadheres employees to wearMayor’s personalOrder protective2020-080 equipmentor insubsequent theMayor’s workplace,Order, to require employers to provide employees with personal protective equipment, to permit employers to require that employees inform their employers of a positive test for an active COVID- 19 infection, to prohibit retaliation against an employee who refuses to work with or serve an individual who refuses to socialcomply distancewith orMayor’s wearOrder personal2020-080, protective equipment, to prohibit retaliation against an employee because the employee tests positive for,for or is quarantining because of COVID-19,COVID- 19, or is caring for someone who has symptoms of or is quarantining because of COVID-19,COVID- 19, and to prohibit retaliation against an employee who attempts to exercise any right or protection under Titletitle I or to stop or prevent a violation of the worker safety provisions of Titletitle I, to authorize the Mayor and Attorney General to administer and enforce workplace and employee protections in Titletitle I, andto authorize the Attorney General to bring civil actions in a court of competent jurisdiction;jurisdiction, to authorize the Chief Procurement Officer to enter into an indefinite duration/indefinite quantity contract to assist eligible businesses in the purchase of personal protective equipment and other supplies related to the containment of COVID-19, to permit federal laws, polices, and standards or a Mayor’s Order that contains stricter personal protective equipment standards, to preempt the terms of title I;

Page 1 of 10 (1) “Adverse employment action” means an action that an employer takes against an employee, including a threat, verbal warning, written warning, reduction of work hours, suspension, termination, discharge, demotion, harassment, material change in the terms or ENROLLED ORIGINAL conditions of the employee’s employment, or any action that is reasonably likely to deter the employee from attempting to secure any right or protection contained in this title or to prevent or stop a violation of this title.

(3) “COVID-19” means the disease caused bybythe the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

(4) “Employee” includes any person suffered or permitted to work bybyan an employer.

(5) “Employer” includes every individual, partnership, firm, general contractor, subcontractor, association, corporation, the legal representative of a deceased individual, or the receiver, trustee, or successor of an individual, firm, partnership, general contractor, subcontractor, association, or corporation,corporation employing any person in the District of Columbia.

(6) “Face“Personal covering”protective meansequipment” aincludes cloth face covering,coverings, facedisposable mask,gloves, oreye similarprotection, textileface barriershields, thatdisposable coversgowns anor individual’saprons, nose and mouthplexiglass andbarriers. works to reduce the spray of respiratory droplets.

(7) “Face“PPE” shield” means a form of personal protective equipmentequipment. made of transparent, impermeable materials intended to protect the entire face or portions of it from droplets or splashes.

Page(8) 2“Public ofhealth 10emergency” (8)means “Handthe sanitizer”Coronavirus means(COVID-19) alcohol-basedpublic handhealth sanitizeremergency thatdeclared ispursuant atto leastMayor’s 60%Order alcohol.2020-045, on March 11, 2020, and all subsequent extensions.

(9) “Personal“Workplace” protectivemeans equipment”any includesphysical facestructure coverings,or disposablespace gloves,over eyewhich protection,an faceemployer shields,maintains disposablecontrol gownswherein oran aprons,employee andperforms plexiglasswork barriers.for an employer;

(10) “PPE” means personal protective equipment.

(11) “Public health emergency” means the Coronavirus (COVID-19) public health emergency declared pursuant to Mayor’s Order 2020-045, on March 11, 2020, and all subsequent extensions.

(12) “Wear a face covering” means to cover both nose and mouth.

(13) “Workplace” means any physical structure or space, over which an employer maintains control, wherein an employee performs work for an employer;

(a) Beginning 7 days after the effective date of this title and during the public health emergency, employers in the District shall adopt and implement social distancing and worker protection policies to prevent transmission of COVID-19 in the workplace.workplace that adheres to the requirements of Mayor’s Order 2020-080, or subsequent Mayor’s Order.

For employees that are present in the workplace, employers shall:

(1) Require employees to maintain at least 6 feet of distance from other individuals in the workplace, unless the nature of the employee’s job makes it impossible or infeasible to maintain such a distance;

(2)(A)(i) Provide to each employee, unless the employee voluntarily supplies and wears a self-supplied face covering:

Page 3 of 10 (I) At least two washable cloth face masks at least every 3 months;

or (II) A new, disposable face mask for each day of work;

and (ii) In addition to the face masks provided pursuant to sub- subparagraph (i) of this sub-paragraph, for each employee whose regular job duties make it likely that the employee will be unable to maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from another individual while performing such duties and the employee is required to remain at a stationary post:

(I) Install a clear barrier of plexiglass or similar material between the employee and the individuals with whom the employee regularly interacts at a distance of fewer than 6 feet;

or (II) Provide the employee with eye protection such as a face shield or safety goggles;

and (B) Except as provided in paragraph (5)(A) through (F) of this subsection, require, at minimum, employees to wear the cloth face coverings or face masks provided pursuant to subparagraph (A) of this paragraph whenever the employee is or is likely to be fewer than 6 feet from another individual;

(3) Provide employees access to and permission to regularly use soap and water, when possible, and hand sanitizer;

(4) Provide visitors to the workplace access to hand sanitizer;

and (5) Require, at minimum, customers, contractors, vendors, and other visitors to the workplace to properly wear face coverings whenever they are or are likely to be fewer than 6 Page 4 of 10 feet from another individual, provided, that the following persons are not required to wear face coverings:

(A) A child under the age of 2 years old;

(B) A person who is unable to wear a mask due to a medical condition or disability, or is physically unable to remove a mask;

(C) A person when speaking to a person who is deaf or hard of hearing and who needs to read the speakers’ lips;

(D) A person who is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to take off the face covering without assistance;

(E) A person who is eating or drinking;

(F) A person is in the water at a swimming pool;

(G) A person is in an enclosed office that no one else is permitted to enter;

(H) A person is giving a speech for broadcast or an audience, provided no one is within six feet of the speaker;

(I) A person whose equipment required for a job precludes the wearing of a mask and the person is wearing that equipment, or when wearing a mask would endanger public safety;

(J) a person has been lawfully asked to remove the mask for facial recognition purposes;

(K) A person who is participating in vigorous exercise at an outdoor facility or a portion of an indoor facility that is outside and who is at least 6 feet from other persons;

or Page 5 of 10 (L) A person who is participating in vigorous exercise inside of a facility and who is at least 10 feet from other persons.

(a) No employer or agent thereof may take an adverse employment action against an employee for the employee’s refusal to serve a customer or client, or to work within 6 feet of an individual, who is not complying with the workplace protections inestablished pursuant to section 102.

ENROLLED ORIGINAL (b)(1) No employer or agent thereof may take an adverse employment action against an employee because: