The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- California
- Level
- State
- Authority
- California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, Labor Code div. 5, pt. 1, ch. 4 (Violations and Penalties), as amended (penalty amounts indexed annually under sec. 6427(b) from Jan. 1, 2018)
- Issued
- 2026-09-28 Sept. 28, 2026
- Effective
- standing (read as 2026-09-28)
- End
- standing
- In force
- Standing since Sept. 28, 2026 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Workplace rulesStanding duty
- Addressees
- employers; officers, management officials and supervisors
- Character
- order penalty
- Collection
- Standing duties: California DUT-CA
Operative words
every employer and every officer, management official, or supervisor having direction, management, control, or custody of any employment, place of employment, or of any other employee, who does any of the following is guilty of a misdemeanor: (1) Knowingly or negligently violates any standard, order, or special order, or any provision of this division... deemed to be a serious violation
Penalty
Section 6423(b): imprisonment up to six months or a fine up to $5,000 or both for a paragraph (1) violation; (c) up to one year and $15,000 for failure to report a death. Section 6427: civil penalty up to $12,471 per non-serious violation (indexed annually from Jan. 1, 2018); section 6428: up to $25,000 per serious violation, with no good-faith or history adjustment for an employer without an operative injury prevention program; section 6429: willful or repeated violations up to $124,709 and not less than $8,908 per willful violation (amounts as displayed in the current text; the 2020-2021 indexed amounts differ and are not stated here).
What it required
Made the Labor Code duties and every Cal/OSHA standard and order (including 8 C.C.R. sections 3203 and 3205) criminally and civilly enforceable against the employer and its officers, managers and supervisors personally, so that the choice between complying with the COVID-19 workplace requirements and not complying was a choice between lawful and unlawful conduct.
Retrieval noteOfficial text as displayed Sept. 28, 2026. Section 6428.5 deems an injury prevention program operative for penalty purposes when it meets the standards board's substantial-compliance criteria under section 6401.7, tying the penalty scheme to the IIPP duty (DUT-CA-011).