Coming release for COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers – News
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A COVID-19 vaccination mandate for private businesses with 100 or more employees will be published in the Federal Register “in the coming days,” a Department of Labor spokesperson said. McKnight’s on Monday, relaying that the White House Office of Management and Budget had completed its regulatory review of the emergency temporary standard.
The DOL Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard will require private-sector employers with 100 or more workers — “company-wide or company-wide” — to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Alternatively, the standard will require employers to obtain negative COVID-10 test results at least once a week from unvaccinated workers. Employers will also be required to have unvaccinated employees wear masks at work.
The rule will also require covered businesses to give workers paid time off to get vaccinated and paid sick time to recover from any side effects of vaccination.
OSHA developed the standard at the request of President Biden, who included it in his six-point report COVID-19 Action Plan announced September 9. The final standard becomes effective after publication in the Federal Register.
The rule would also allow large companies to pass the fee testing and personal protective equipment for employees who refuse a COVID-19 vaccine. Employers, however, will be required to absorb the costs of tests and masks for workers who benefit from vaccine exemptions or if the issue is addressed in a union bargaining agreement, according to a report by Bloomberg Law.
Seniors advocates applauded the requirements when they were first announced in September, saying the mandates would create a consistent standard and give seniors greater protection no matter where they receive care.
Once the mandate takes effect, employers will have to decide whether to allow a testing option, how to handle religious or medical accommodation requests and what effects the mandate may have on the workforce.
Legal experts expect challenges to the mandate, but said the law is on Biden’s side.
A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule, developed at Biden’s request, is also pending that requires health care facility workers who receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to implement vaccination and testing protocols. The action is based on a vaccination obligation for retirement homes announced in august.
CMS submitted draft final rule language to the OMB days after the Department of Labor submitted the text of its emergency temporary standard on the private sector business vaccination mandate.
