A federal appeals court issued an order blocking the recently released OSHA ETS from taking effect. The ETS (Emergency Temporary Standard) mandates vaccines or testing for all employers with 100 or more employees. It was released Thursday, November 4, 2021 and stayed on November 6. An estimated 80 million employees in the United States will be affected by this rule that will require them to get vaccinated or submit to weekly COVID-19 tests.
501(c) Services’ current advice is for organizations to be prepared to enact the ETS. The first upcoming deadline for the mandate is December 5, 2021. If the ETS is in effect on that date, all covered employers must have a policy, as well as several other technical pieces in place.
What you need to know right now.
- The ETS applies to all employers with 100 or more total employees.
- All unvaccinated employees will be required to wear masks in the workplace starting December 5th, if not already required by the organization, city, county, or state.
- The deadline for employers to comply with this ETS is January 4th, 2022. Meaning, all employers with 100 or more total employees, must have all employees fully vaccinated by this date unless employees request and are granted an accommodation (under a medical or sincerely held religious belief exemption).
- Those employees who receive an exemption to the vaccine mandate must provide, at least weekly, a negative COVID-19 test.
- Organizations are NOT required to provide or pay for testing. Some organizations may be required to pay for and/or provide testing per state or local laws or if mandated at a unionized organization.
- The employer is required to provide reasonable time off and pay for vaccination, up to four (4) hours. Employers must also pay employees for any time off needed to recover from vaccine side effects that may prevent them from working.
- All organizations are required to create and implement appropriate policies to carry out and enforce the mandate-or-test requirements.
- OSHA built in a few narrow exemptions for those employees whose job duties are carried out remotely or outdoors. These remote and outdoor workers must be included in the 100 total employee count.
Helpful Links
- How to prepare for the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate
- White House fact sheet on the ETS.
- White House report on the ETS.
- OSHA ETS Summary.
501(c) Services is in the process of creating sample policies and additional information to assist you with complying with the new COVID-19 Vaccination ETS.
501(c) Services customers have unlimited access to HR assistance. 501(c) Agencies Trust members or HR subscribers can contact us anytime regarding this subject or any other HR situations.
Need HR help for a low monthly fee? Contact us today. The information contained in this article is not a substitute for legal advice or counsel and has been pulled from multiple sources.
The information contained in this article is not a substitute for legal advice or counsel and has been pulled from multiple sources.
