On Sept. 28, 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 606 (SB 606), which, among other things, creates two new categories of California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) violations: “egregious” and “enterprise-wide.”
The new categories of violations carry significant monetary penalties against employers. Employers face up to $134,334 per egregious and enterprise-wide violation. But employers who commit egregious violations could face significantly higher monetary penalties, because each exposed employee will be considered a separate violation, i.e., $134,334 multiplied by the number of impacted employees. The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2022.