The standards approved in July 2020 had flaws.  These standards were pushed though with little input from all business types & sizes and they go way beyond federal standards. Just a few examples of how these regulations are expensive, confusing, and difficult for small business:

• Requiring physical separation of employees at low-risk businesses by a permanent, solid floor to ceiling wall when physical distancing can’t be achieved. Yet higher risk businesses have more flexibility to use smaller temporary barriers like Plexiglas sneeze guards.  This makes no since!  Why would we make this permanent?
• All businesses must clean and disinfect at the same intervals whether its a 9 to 5 office setting or a factory with round-the-clock shifts.  Again, imposing burdens without any rationale.  No one size fits all solution is practical.
• Requiring employers to determine the risk of each employee instead of basing that on their job tasks.  Again, just makes no since.
• Attempting to regulate sick leave policies, flexible work sites, flexible schedules, meetings and travel, and delivery of services or products without regard to varying industry standards.  Do not take this flexibility away from any business!  They need this exact flexibility to keep operating & providing services to all Virginians.
• Not allowing enough time to train employees.
• Expecting employers with “reasonable diligence” to know when an employee is infected with the virus but doesn’t define what that means.  So many problems with this...

Regulation that is unclear & not flexible is the very last thing VA needs to make permanent.  We need to allow businesses the flexibility to keep employees safe as well as their own families.  Look around!  Small business owners have risen to the challenge to make VA safe.  People acting like making these temporary regulations permanent is going to improve VA are just uneducated about the actual regulations they supposedly support.  

Oppose making these regulations permanent.  They should remain flexible so they can be changed as needed!