From all of us here in the national MSHA Workplace Safety Practice Group at Conn Maciel Carey, to all of you, happy holidays and happy New Year.  We wish you a joyful and safe holiday season, and a 2021 that helps us all forget about this challenging year.

Please enjoy this holiday greeting from the CMC family to your family:

Despite this relentless year, we have so much to be thankful for at Conn Maciel Carey, but most of all, we thank you all for continuing to turn to us for counsel and legal services.  Please contact us if you have questions about any of the topics we have covered here on the MSHA Defense Report blog, or if you have ideas for other subjects we should be covering.  And of course, contact any of us if there is ever anything our national MSHA Workplace Safety Practice Group at Conn Maciel Carey can do to help you or your company with MSHA law issues.

By Conn Maciel Carey’s COVID-19 Task Force

We want to alert you to a significant COVID-19 development out of the CDC yesterday.  Specifically, the CDC just announced a material revision to its definition of “Close Contact.”  The new definition makes it explicit that the 15-minute exposure period (i.e., within 6-feet of an infected individual for 15 minutes) should be assessed based on a cumulative amount of time over 24 hours, not just a single, continuous 15-minute interaction.​

Here is the new definition included on the CDC’s website:​

Close Contact – Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period* starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.​

* Individual exposures added together over a 24-hour period (e.g., three 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes). Data are limited, making it difficult to precisely define “close contact;” however, 15 cumulative minutes of exposure at a distance of 6 feet or less can be used as an operational definition for contact investigation. Factors to consider when defining close contact include proximity (closer distance likely increases exposure risk), the duration of exposure (longer exposure time likely increases exposure risk), whether the infected individual has symptoms (the period around onset of symptoms is associated with the highest levels of viral shedding), if the infected person was likely to generate respiratory aerosols (e.g., was coughing, singing, shouting), and other environmental factors (crowding, adequacy of ventilation, whether exposure was indoors or outdoors). Because the general public has not received training on proper selection and use of respiratory PPE, such as an N95, the determination of close contact should generally be made irrespective of whether the contact was wearing respiratory PPE.  At this time, differential determination of close contact for those using fabric face coverings is not recommended.​

CDC’s revised view of what constitutes a Close Contact is based on an exposure study at a correctional facility.  Here is the CDC’s public notice about the correctional facility analysis.  The analysis apparently revealed that virus was spread to a 20-year-old prison employee who interacted with individuals who later tested positive for the virus, after 22 interactions that took place over 17 minutes during an eight-hour shift.  ​

An important consequence of this revision is the impact it will have on employers’ ability to maintain staffing because it establishes a much lower threshold trigger for required quarantine.

Recall that the CDC and OSHA recommend that an employee quarantine for 14 days if s/he experiences a Close Contact exposure with someone who later is determined to have been COVID positive at the time of the contact. Continue reading →

Conn Maciel Carey LLP is excited to share that eight of its attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers and Rising Stars in 2020 in the fields of Labor & Employment and Workplace Safety Law.  Super Lawyers is a research-driven and peer-influenced rating service featuring exceptional attorneys out of select legal practice areas.  The attorneys selected are acknowledged for acquiring extraordinary professional achievement and peer recognition in their discrete areas of practice.

Eric J. Conn (Super Lawyer) is a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey and Chair of the firm’s national OSHA • Workplace Safety Practice Group. His practice focuses exclusively on issues involving occupational safety and health law.  Before launching his own OSHA Practice, Mr. Conn practiced for more than a decade alongside the former first General Counsel of the OSH Review Commission.  Mr. Conn and his OSHA Team at Conn Maciel Carey develop safety and health regulatory strategies for employers across all industries.

Prior to founding Conn Maciel Carey, Mr. Conn was Head of an OSHA practice group that was honored as the “Occupational Health & Safety Law Firm of the Year” by Corporate INTL Magazine in its 2014 Global Awards. In 2013 and 2014, he was named a “Rising Star” by Washington, DC Super Lawyers, and as a Super Lawyer every year since.  He has also been selected for inclusion in the Washington Post’s Top-Rated Lawyers list in Washington, DC.

Kara M. Maciel (Super Lawyer) is a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey and Chair of the firm’s national Labor • Employment Practice Group. She focuses her practice on representing employers in all aspects of the employment relationship.  Continue reading →

Conn Maciel Carey is pleased to announce the addition to its national Workplace Safety Practice of renowned Cal/OSHA attorney Fred Walter.

Mr. Walter has spent more than 35 years working with employers to defend OSHA and Cal/OSHA citations, as well as developing and auditing safety programs to answer regulatory mandates. He also represents employers in defense of “serious and willful misconduct” claims and provides crisis management services.  For the past twelve years, Mr. Walter was the Managing Partner of a premier Cal/OSHA defense firm, Walter & Prince LLP.

“Fred is a true legend of the OSHA Bar.  The opportunity to align with him and enable our young lawyers, and really all of us, to benefit from his experience, knowledge, and mentorship, will help solidify Conn Maciel Carey as the premier workplace safety law firm in the country,” said Eric J. Conn, Chair of the firm’s Workplace Safety Practice Group.  “In addition to bringing decades of experience and knowledge, it is Fred’s creative approach and focus on consensus-building, rather than bridge-burning, that make him such a great fit with our team,” Eric added.

Mr. Walter’s diverse clientele includes employers in all of the construction trades, manufacturing, warehousing, freight handling, logging, farm labor contracting, food processing, and wineries.  In his over three decades of practice, Fred has acquired a wealth of knowledge of Cal/OSHA regulations and enforcement and developed unique relationships and established credibility with the players within Cal/OSHA and among its Counsel.

“It is clear from talking with Fred that he loves the work he does and cares about the people for and with whom he does it.  And he brings such a depth of experience with Cal/OSHA defense and counseling, as well as unique relationships with the players at Cal/OSHA, that will enhance the workplace safety legal services we provide to employers across all industries,” said Andrew J. Sommer, Managing Partner of the firm’s California practice.

Fred will be based out of the firm’s San Francisco office, and will help assist the firm’s clients up and down the West Coast.

“I have admired Eric Conn for years and have been impressed with the firm that he, Kara and Bryan have built,” said Mr. Walter. “They practice with integrity and a lot of common sense. I work hard to find practical and efficient solutions to my clients’ problems, and I know they do as well. I look forward to continuing to support my clients with assistance from them and their deep bench of OSHA specialist attorneys across the country.”

Here is a link to a press release issued by the Firm about this exciting development.

Conn Maciel Carey LLP is excited to share that five of its attorneys based in Washington, DC have been recognized by Super Lawyers in 2019 in the fields of Labor & Employment and Workplace Safety Law.  Super Lawyers is a research-driven and peer-influenced rating service featuring exceptional attorneys out of select legal practice areas.  The attorneys selected are acknowledged for acquiring extraordinary professional achievement and peer recognition in their discrete areas of practice.

Eric J. Conn (Super Lawyer) is a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey and Chair of the firm’s national OSHA • Workplace Safety Practice Group. His practice focuses exclusively on issues involving occupational safety and health law.  Before launching his own OSHA Practice, Mr. Conn practiced for more than a decade alongside the former first General Counsel of the OSH Review Commission.  Mr. Conn and his OSHA Team at Conn Maciel Carey develop safety and health regulatory strategies for employers across all industries.

Prior to founding Conn Maciel Carey, Mr. Conn was Head of an OSHA practice group that was honored as the “Occupational Health & Safety Law Firm of the Year” by Corporate INTL Magazine in its 2014 Global Awards. In 2013 and 2014, he was named a “Rising Star” by Washington, DC Super Lawyers, and as a Super Lawyer every year since.  He has also been selected for inclusion in the Washington Post’s Top-Rated Lawyers list in Washington, DC.

Kara M. Maciel (Super Lawyer) is a founding partner of Conn Maciel Carey and Chair of the firm’s national Labor • Employment Practice Group. She focuses her practice on representing employers in all aspects of the employment relationship. Continue reading →