Important Notice on Virginia's Workplace Safety Executive Order

Dear WANADA Members,

Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia issued an executive order today that non-essential businesses must adhere to stricter social distancing guidelines, with no more than 10 patrons, and up to 16 employees, in the same enclosed space at the same time, while ensuring everyone in the facility maintains 6 feet of distance from others at all times. 

For now, this order will be in effect for 30 days once it goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday night.  The important thing to note is that dealership showrooms can remain open in Virginia, so long as you take the utmost care to prioritize the safety of your customers and employees, and to limit capacity to 10 patrons at a time. Please note that businesses who fail to adhere to these guidelines can be forced to close and face a Class I misdemeanor criminal charge.

Based on the text of the executive order and the accompanying Frequently Asked Questions page, Virginia has designated auto repair facilities as "essential" operations, and the patron limits do not apply the way they do for showrooms. That said, we strongly urge our dealers to adhere to CDC social distancing guidelines and Virginia's recommendations around limiting the size of gatherings where at all remotely possible. Please take great care to operate your businesses as safely and responsibly as you can.

We also encourage you to refer to Virginia's coronavirus information page for more details on the state's response to COVID-19, as well as the Virginia Employment Commission homepage for news on available relief for workers and employers in the commonwealth. Please also review the workplace guidance published by the Virginia Department of Labor.

As we noted this morning, the mandates that Maryland and Virginia have put into place will almost certainly cause some level of disruption to your dealership operations. Please continue referring to our COVID-19 information page for more dealership-centered information, and also please feel free to contact me or Joe Koch ( jk@wanada.org) at any time.

If you have any WANADA insurance or benefits-related questions, please contact Ed Mullaney ( em@wanada.org) or Connie Ryan ( cr@wanada.org). We will have more information to you as soon as we receive it.

Sincerely,
  
John O'Donnell
WANADA President and CEO