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Let's talk antitrust: Discussing recent cases and emerging competition issues
Recent cases and judgments have shone a light on some emerging themes and trends that companies will want to consider as part of their risk management framework.
United States | Publication | January 18, 2022
Cal/OSHA has revised its emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19, to take effect on January 14, 2022. What follows is a summary of those changes.
Employers must continue to properly notify employees, employee representatives and any other workers at a worksite of possible COVID-19 exposures within one business day. This section was updated to give employers more clear instructions on how to notify workers who were at the same worksite as the COVID-19 case during the high-risk exposure period. Specifically, employers may provide notice “in the manner the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information,” which may include e-mail or text messages. As before, employers should maintain a copy of this notice for its files.
The definition of “worksite” has been narrowed to exclude locations where someone worked alone, a worker’s personal residence, or “alternative work location chosen by the worker when working remotely.”
The revised ETS imposes additional requirements regarding “face coverings.” For face coverings other than a respirator, surgical mask or a medical procedure mask, the covering must be made of fabrics that “do not let light pass through when held up to a light source [and material] that completely covers the nose and mouth and is secured to the head with ties, ear loops or elastic bands that go behind the head.”
In addition, “a face covering is a solid piece of material without slits, visible hole or punctures, and must fit snugly over the nose, mouth and chin with no large gaps on the outside of the face.”
Employers must ensure that employees who are exempted from wearing a face covering due to a medical or mental health condition or disability and cannot wear a non-restrictive alternative must physically distance at least six feet from others and either be fully vaccinated or tested at least weekly for COVID-19. The testing must be during paid time and at no cost to the employee.
A COVID-19 test may include an FDA-approved over-the-counter (OTC) test, administered in accordance with the authorized instructions, but—as with the Fed OSHA ETS—may not be both self-administered and self-read unless observed by the employer or an authorized telehealth proctor. In FAQs for its vaccine-or-test ETS, Fed OSHA has indicated that employee photographs of the OTC test results also do not satisfy the standard. Until Cal/OSHA issues an FAQ to the contrary, it is prudent to assume that California will follow the lead of Fed OSHA.
In addition:
For those who are not fully vaccinated, the period of time before an employee can return to work after “close contact” has been revised (via FAQs issued on January 6, 2022) to be consistent with current California Department of Public Health guidelines:
Video
Recent cases and judgments have shone a light on some emerging themes and trends that companies will want to consider as part of their risk management framework.
Publication
After a lacklustre finish to 2022 when compared to the vintage year for M&A that was 2021, dealmakers expected 2023 to see the market continue to cool in most sectors, in response to the economic headwinds of rising inflation (with its corresponding impact on financing costs), declining market valuations, tightening regulatory scrutiny and increasing geopolitical tensions.
Publication
On 18 September 2023, the CMA published its Initial Report (Initial Report) on AI Foundation Models (FM), supplemented in April 2024 with the publication of its “Update Paper” focused on potential antitrust risks associated with FMs and a “Technical Update Report” providing more detail on the development on FMs (collectively the “Reports”). Below, we consider these CMA publications.
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