I run a small business in Prince William County.  We work hard to follow careful, thoughtful protocol to protect our employees and clients. This is a burden, but we understand it is necessary at this time.  To make these precautions permanent would be overly burdensome.

We are members of Prince William Chamber of Commerce.  The Prince William Chamber is STRONGLY opposed to the Department of Labor and Industry’s COVID-19 Regulations becoming Permanent. In a time where some reports estimate that 20-25% of businesses will close forever, these regulations threaten to drive those numbers even higher.

Businesses, especially small businesses, are already struggling to survive these hard economic times and these regulations only increase the burden on them. The business community had no real input when they were originally drafted and developed and when they were put in place. The regulations were developed too quickly and are incredibly broad in scope.

On top of these regulations, the business community also needs to follow guidelines from the CDC, OSHA and there is guidance in the CARES ACT as well. Those regulations alone change almost week to week, increasing the amount of regulations that businesses will have to adhere to will only make a hard situation more difficult.

We also see the DOLI Regulations dramatically increasing the amount of litigation that will go to the courts. The have created a litany of reasons for filing a lawsuit, and a majority of those reasons are based on an individual’s prospective, rather than on facts and the situation.

Making the DOLI Regulations permanent will only hurt businesses as they try to move into “the new normal” that we find ourselves adjusting too.