You heard the following directive yesterday from President Biden: Private employers with 100 or more employees must ensure their workers are vaccinated against COVID-19 or require unvaccinated employees to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work.
Everyone should take a deep breath. Nothing is required at this point. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is expected to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), which will (hopefully) help applicable employers determine what is required and when. We anticipate that the ETS will require applicable employers to provide paid time off for the time it takes employees to get vaccinated or recover after receiving the vaccine.
In the meantime, these are some of the questions we are asking (we are sure you are asking them, too):
- Who is paying for this?
- What type of test will be required?
- What about employees who work remotely?
- Will the COVID-19 booster shot be included?
Until we hear more, we will just have to wait and see. But fear not, many businesses are already doing what might be required.
So breathe deeply (for now) and stay tuned! And, as always, feel free to reach out to our team with any questions. We will navigate this together.
