Here’s What We Have Been Waiting For: OSHA Issues Standards To Minimize Risk of COVID-19 Transmission in the Workplace ; Contractor Mandatory Vaccination Deadline Extended
Today, November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued an emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace. The ETS will be published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2021. A 3-page summary can be found here.
The ETS applies to employers with at least 100 employees corporate-wide, except for workplaces covered under the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors, or in settings where employees provide healthcare services or healthcare support services when subject to the requirements of the Healthcare ETS (previously issued by OSHA). As further explained in the ETS FAQs, “OSHA has determined that complying with the ETS in addition to the federal contractor guidelines is not necessary to protect employees at workplaces covered by those guidelines from a grave danger posted by COVID-19. (emphasis added). The ETS FAQs also explain which employees and workers are included in the 100-employee threshold.
“The ETS establishes minimum vaccination, vaccination verification, face covering, and testing requirements to address the grave danger of COVID-19 in the workplace.” All requirements, except for testing, will become effective on December 5, 2021. The testing requirements will become effective on January 5, 2022.
Also today, the Biden Administration announced to federal contractors that “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.” Take note that this new deadline (previously a deadline of December 8th for full-vaccination) does not require covered federal contractor employees to be “fully-vaccinated” by January 4th, which term is defined by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force as “two weeks after they have received the second dose in a two-dose series, or two weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine.” This new deadline only requires that the second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, or single dose of Johnson & Johnson be administered by January 4, 2022.
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