On Thursday, September 9th, President Biden released a COVID-19 Action Plan, which includes a requirement that companies with 100 or more employees ensure their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or test negative for COVID-19 at least once a week. Additionally, President Biden signed Executive Orders requiring federal employees and most federal contractors to be vaccinated.
OSHA will release a Emergency Temporary Standard ("ETS") which will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses with 100+ employees. The Agency is authorized to issue an ETS if it can show that workers are exposed to a grave danger and that the rule is necessary to address that danger. This rule will apply to all states under the jurisdiction of Federal OSHA; states with state-run plans will have 30 days to adopt a standard that is at least as effective.
Further, the President's Action Plan will require COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies. The administration previously applied these vaccine requirements to nursing home staff as well as staff in hospitals, including clinical staff, individuals providing services under arrangements, volunteers, and staff who are not involved in direct patient, resident, or client care. These requirements will apply to approximately 50,000 providers and cover a majority of health care workers across the country, according to a press release from the White House.
Continue to follow this blog or contact for the Law Office for more information; we will provide additional detail on the OSHA ETS as it becomes available.
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