Biden Announces Rule Requiring Employers with 100+ Employees to Mandate Vaccines or Weekly COVID-19

In an attempt to address the continued spread of COVID-19, especially for unvaccinated individuals, and the recent Delta Variant surge, President Biden has directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a temporary emergency rule requiring all employers with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccines or weekly COVID-19 testing for all employees.

This temporary OSHA rule is expected to be issued later this month. Compliance with the new rule is expected to be required by the end of November. Failure to comply can result in large penalties for employers of up to $14,000 per violation.

Employers will be required to pay for the vaccinations. Employees will also need to be given paid time off to get vaccinated and for any recovery time for vaccine-related side effects. Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) is still available for employers who choose to provide it to their employees until September 30, 2021. Employees can use EPSL for getting vaccinated and any recovery time. Employees can also be required to use their existing paid time off. Employers will likely not need to give employees paid time off for weekly testing or pay for the employee’s tests.

OSHA will also need to address whether employers need to make exceptions to the mandatory vaccination and weekly testing requirements for employees with disabilities or strongly held religious belief that prohibit them from getting vaccinated or tested. We anticipate that both those exceptions will be available to employees. The Oregon Health Authority has released forms for religious and medical exemptions, which employers could use for this purpose. These forms are available at the following website: https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/

President Biden also announced that employers, regardless of their size, who are federal contractors need to also require all employees to be vaccinated, along with healthcare workers and hospitals that receive Medicare/Medicaid funding, teachers at Head Start, and other federally funded schools. There is no option for these employers to require weekly testing in lieu of getting vaccinated.

Many questions remain unanswered at this time. UEA will provide additional guidance to its members as it becomes available.

UEA attorneys are available to address Member questions and concerns regarding President Biden’s mandate and other COVID-19 related laws and restrictions.