Back to Business: Proof of Vaccination and Weekly COVID-19 Testing: OSHA’s Impending Emergency Temporary Standard & What It Means for Businesses Employing 100+ Individuals

On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced that the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is developing an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) “that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work.” This requirement will likely apply to approximately 80 million people, or two-thirds of all U.S. workers, according to the White House.

While awaiting further guidance, many employers are already exploring vaccination and testing options and establishing secure protocols and procedures to track vaccination and testing status. There are a number of legal issues that come to mind when contemplating and preparing for this new standard.

Leech Tishman’s national Employment & Labor Chair, Philip A. Toomey, along with employment attorney Leah K. Sell will be presenting a complimentary 1-hour briefing to examine the developing ETS and answer frequently asked questions. We hope you can join us!

Please submit any questions in advance to info@leechtishman.com.

If you are already registered, log into the webinar here.

To read an informative client alert about the ETS, please click here.

Speakers: Philip A. Toomey, Esq. & Leah K. Sell, Esq. 

During this informative briefing, we will answer frequently asked questions including;

• Who is subject to the ETS? How might the 100-employee threshold be calculated?
• What is the proposed timeline for the ETS development and compliance deadline?
• Who will pay for the testing?
• How do employers mandate it? What about encouragements, incentives, penalties, and assessments?
• Will employers need to provide paid leave related to the vaccination and testing requirements?
• What reporting and recordkeeping requirements might there be?
• What about employee privacy?
• If it is mandatory, and an employee refuses, what happens?
• How will the ETS interact with current state prohibitions on employer and government vaccine requirements?
• Are there legal challenges to the ETS?
• How should employers approach communication with employees to provide protection on issues including accommodation, discrimination, collection and retention of personal health information, and avoiding medical examination?

Register here.