Biden Announces New Vaccine Rules for Businesses
On Nov. 4, the Biden Administration announced the details of two new vaccine rules covering more than 100 million workers.
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First, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a requirement for employers with 100 or more employees to ensure each of their workers is fully vaccinated or tests for COVID-19 on at least a weekly basis. This will affect approximately 84 million private-sector workers across the country, including around 31 million who are believed to be unvaccinated.
Second, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) at the Department of Health and Human Services will require that health care workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid are fully vaccinated. The rule applies to more than 17 million workers at approximately 76,000 health care facilities, including hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Here’s what employers need to know:
The deadline is January 4: Under the OSHA rule, companies must ensure either that their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 4 or that they test negative at least once a week.
Workers must get paid for the time it takes to get vaccinated: Employers must pay workers for the time it takes to get vaccinated and provide sick leave for them to recover from any side effects.
Employers don't need to pay for testing: Employers are not required to pay for or provide testing to workers who decline the vaccine.
Unvaccinated workers must wear masks: Effective Dec. 5, unvaccinated employees must wear a mask while at work.
Other Requirements: Employers are subject to requirements for reporting and recordkeeping that are detailed in the OSHA materials available here.
To make it easy for businesses and workers to comply, the deadline for workers to receive their shots will be the same for the OSHA rule, the CMS rule, and the previously-announced federal contractor vaccination requirement. Employees falling under the ETS, CMS, or federal contractor rules will need to have their final vaccination dose – either their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, or single dose of Johnson & Johnson – by January 4, 2022. The newly-released ETS will not be applied to workplaces subject to the federal contractor requirement or CMS rule, so employers will not have to track multiple vaccination requirements for the same employees.