The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Vermont
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 sec. 18, 29 U.S.C. sec. 667 (State plan); 21 V.S.A. sec. 201 (purpose; VOSHA Code); Vermont State Plan approved by federal OSHA (1973; final approval)
- Issued
- 2024-07-01 July 1, 2024
- Effective
- standing; in force throughout March 2020 to September 2021 (read as 2024-07-01)
- End
- standing
- In force
- Standing since July 1, 2024 (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 (every private employer and every State and local government employer in Vermont; federal OSHA covers only the exceptions listed in the State Plan); employees
- Character
- workplace duty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Vermont DUT-VT
Operative words
Each employer shall furnish to each of the employer's employees employment and a place of employment that are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or significant physical harm to the employees; and the employer shall comply with safety and health standards adopted under the VOSHA Code.
Penalty
21 V.S.A. sec. 210: civil penalty up to $12,675 for each serious violation, up to $126,749 (not less than $5,000) for each willful or repeated violation, up to $12,675 per day for failure to correct; willful violation causing death: fine up to $126,749 or imprisonment up to one year (Ex. DUT-VT-015)
What it required
Every Vermont employer to furnish employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards causing or likely to cause death or significant physical harm, and to comply with every VOSHA Code standard; SARS-CoV-2 in the workplace was a recognized hazard from March 2020 (the Governor's orders, VDH and CDC guidance and VOSHA's own mandatory training, Exs. VT-016, VT-017, identified it as such), so distancing, screening, masking, ventilation, cleaning and exclusion of the sick were the performance of this duty, not a voluntary reduction of operations. Subsection (b) binds every employee to comply with the VOSHA Code's standards, rules and orders.
Retrieval noteCurrent text rendered September 29, 2026; the 2024 amendment is a wording change by the session's technical corrections act ('the employer's employees' for the gendered pronoun); the duty clause is the 1971 text, which tracks 29 U.S.C. sec. 654(a)(1) with 'significant physical harm' in place of 'serious physical harm'. The library holds the federal general duty clause as Ex. DUT-NY-017 and OSHA's COVID-19 general-duty citations (Exs. AGY-FED-LABOR-IMMIGRATION-031, -095). Addenda 11 and 12 named VOSHA as the author of the mandatory training and as a compliance agency: 'VOSHA, VDH inspectors and AAFM inspectors shall, in the ordinary course of the performance of their duties, ensure businesses... have the information necessary to comply with the health and safety requirements' (Ex. VT-016 para. 6; Ex. VT-025 sec. 9(f)).