Lansing: The state’s protection firm asked the Michigan House of Representatives to review its pandemic procedures after a lawmaker filed a complaint about reimbursement for COVID-positive members to vote from the House gallery.
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday it would conduct an on-site inspection of the offices of members of the Capitol and House, but asked the House to conduct an internal review of its policies.
“We urge you to conduct an internal audit, validate the claims and take appropriate measures to protect your workers from SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially those who have not been vaccinated,” the national office’s protection firm said in a statement. letter.
House Democratic leadership took the branch’s request “with reservations,” said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit.
“The House takes seriously the health and safety of all members of the House and will heed MIOSHA’s advice,” McCann said.
State Rep. Angela Rigas, R-Alto, filed the complaint with the firm on March 8 after House leadership twice allowed Democratic members who had recently tested positive for COVID to vote from the gallery while wearing masks.
On Tuesday, a day after the House won the MIOSHA card, a third COVID-positive Democratic lawmaker voted masked from the podium in a vote on the component’s line on repealing the right to paint and restoring prevailing wages. This time, the caucus cordoned off part of the gallery so rep. Jason Hoskins, D-Southfield, could just sit down.
Meanwhile, Republican state Rep. Cam Cavitt of Cheboygan also tested positive for COVID but stayed home Tuesday, according to a statement from the lawmaker.
Democrats have a narrow 56-54 majority in the House, meaning an absentee Democrat can disappoint the majority party’s ability to pass legislation on a day-to-day basis.
Rigas, who said she was immunocompromised, said she felt compelled to file a complaint because she felt the policy put “lives at risk. “the height of the pandemic when Republicans controlled the House and Senate.
“It’s such a blatant double and hypocrisy is out of the ordinary,” Rigas said.
MIOSHA’s Monday letter said that “the alleged hazards included in the complaint recommend that the facility fully or partially complie” with rules established through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
As an executive firm, MIOSHA does not have the legal authority for the operating situations of legislators in the legislative branch of state government. The firm maintains that it has some authority over House employees, but the extent of that authority is unclear because of the separation. of powers between the branches.
The state’s Workplace Safety Agency, which played a leading role in regulating COVID protocols at the height of the pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, has not implemented any existing COVID regulations beyond those applicable to physical care workers.
But MIOSHA noted in its letter to House leaders that the agency’s general duty clause states “that an employer shall provide workers with a leak from identified hazards that could possibly cause death or serious physical injury to the employee. “
“This would come with the coronavirus,” the letter says.
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House Democrats noted that lawmakers who tested positive sat down and covered the gallery; Before Tuesday, however, lawmakers didn’t walk away from gallery visitors. Management also argued that House regulations mandating compliance with the CDC’s 5-day isolation era after testing positive apply to employees, not elected officials.
House Republican Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp. , in a letter to Tate on Tuesday, argued that it appeared the regulations had replaced this consultation “to help move debatable votes with small margins before synthetic deadlines for political reasons. “
The March 6 complaint is not the first time the House has informed MIOSHA about its COVID-19 prevention management.
In the early months of the pandemic, then-Minority Leader Christine Greig of D-Farmington Hills threatened to file a complaint in October 2020 with state regulators if GOP House Speaker Lee Chatfield of Levering replaced the House’s optional mask policy.
In December 2020, MIOSHA conducted an “off-site court case inspection” based on court cases over Maison’s COVID policy, the firm said. At the time, MIOSHA had more detailed COVID-related emergency rules.
“The employer won a letter requesting a reaction to the allegations in the complaint, and when the employer responded satisfactorily to the letter, the complaint was closed,” said Erica Quealy, spokeswoman for MIOSHA.
The 2020 MIOSHA inspection came after President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was hospitalized with COVID four days after testifying before Michigan lawmakers on Hall’s committee. one not wearing a mask and within six feet of Giuliani for 15 minutes or more. At the time, he said it was “extremely likely” Giuliani would be contagious at the hearing.
The consultation was canceled next week so leaders claimed lawmakers were exposed to a staff member who tested positive for COVID.
eleblanc@detroitnews. com