President Joe Biden announced in September that he would require U.S. employers with 100 or more workers to ensure employees are either fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or tested each week for the virus. Earlier this month The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration unveiled details of the rule . (1) More recently in response to a legal challenge, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard. As a result, OSHA has suspended vaccine enforcement, until further court order. (2)
The new vaccine requirement, if allowed by the courts, will be effective January 4, 2022. It requires that employees receive a vaccination for COVID-19 or be tested weekly.
HRSource can help you meet this requirement. It will track the employee’s vaccine status, and if unvaccinated, it will track COVID-19 test dates and test results. Additional fields can be easily added if desired, including vaccination and booster dates. Reports can flag unvaccinated employees who have not been testing in the past week.
Clients with the SelfSource file upload capability can use that tool to allow employees to upload their vaccine card.
Contact Auxillium West HRnetSource for more information or to activate this feature.
Additional rules include:
- Employers can choose to have employees bear the cost of testing.
- Unvaccinated workers must begin wearing a mask at work as of December 5, 2021.
- Also “starting Dec. 5, the vaccine rule will require employers … to provide workers with paid time off to receive vaccinations, as well as sick leave to recover from vaccination side effects that preclude working.” (3)
- Regulations announced earlier require federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated with no testing option. (4)
“Vaccine mandates are politically polarizing and have become an emotional issue for employees and their families…That’s why leading with empathy will be key to creating the environment of trust and mutual understanding we need to successfully navigate this new workplace challenge.” (2)
(1) https://hrexecutive.com/5-expert-takeaways-from-the-new-osha-vaccine-mandate/
(2) https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets2
(3) https://hrexecutive.com/bidens-vaccine-mandate-rule-is-released-what-hr-needs-to-know-now/
(4) https://hrexecutive.com/5-ways-to-get-ahead-of-bidens-new-employer-vaccine-mandate/