Safer Federal Workforce Task Force: “The President has announced that Federal contractor employees will be required to be vaccinated.”
On Monday, September 13, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (“Task Force”) issued updated COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Federal Agency Model Principles (“Model Principles”) and FAQs that confirm that federal contractor employees will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 without alternative testing options.
The “Recent Updates” section of the Model Principles states: “The President has announced that Federal contractor employees will be required to be vaccinated.” President Biden directed this Task Force, by Executive Order, to issue updated guidance with “explanations of protocols required of contractors and subcontractors to comply with workplace safety guidance.” The Task Force will incorporate into its updated guidance the President’s announced requirement: that federal contractor employees be vaccinated. (See our previous post – New Mandatory Vaccination Requirements for Federal Contractors and Private Employers with 100 or More Employees – for a description of federal contract types to which these federal contractor requirements will apply.)
The “Recent Updates” section of the Model Principles also provides that “[p]rior to be[ing] contractually required to be vaccinated, onsite contractor employees who are not fully vaccinated and are not part of an agency testing program must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test from no later than the previous 3 days prior to entry to a Federal building.”
Let’s break that down:
· Federal contractor employees will be required to be fully vaccinated (except in limited circumstances where a Federal contractor employee is legally entitled to a reasonable accommodation).
· Federal contractor employees will not have the option to test in lieu of a vaccination.
· Until such time as contractually required to be vaccinated, onsite federal contractor employees may either:
o Provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test from no later than the previous 3 days prior to entry to a Federal building; or
o Be enrolled in an agency testing program and follow all of the protocols and testing procedures required by that testing program.
Under the Model Principles, agencies are no longer required to provide a testing program for employees (or federal contractor employees) who are not fully vaccinated, because of the new parallel mandate that federal employees be fully vaccinated. According to the Model Principles, “Agencies must work expeditiously so that their [federal] employees are fully vaccinated as quickly as possible and by no later than November 22, 2021.” Implementation guidance pertaining to the vaccine mandate for federal employees is forthcoming and will be released soon by the Task Force.
By September 24, 2021, we can expect additional Task Force guidance detailing what will be required of “contractors and subcontractors to comply with workplace safety guidance” – including vaccination.
Contact us for additional guidance. We will continue to monitor updates as they become available.
