OSHA EMERGENCY RULE - COVID-19 VACCINE

On Thursday, September 9, 2021, President Biden announced that the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will develop and issue an emergency rule requiring private-sector companies with one hundred (100) or more employees to ensure their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 or test negative for COVID-19 at least once per week. President Biden also announced the rule will require employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated and to recover from any side effects of the vaccination.

The rule is being classified as an emergency temporary standard, meaning it will not be subject to the normal rulemaking process, allowing it to be developed and implemented more quickly. A deadline for the rule was not announced. We anticipate it could take anywhere from a few weeks, to several months for the final rule to be issued, and it will likely face some opposition. In the meantime, it is important to note that the requirements announced by President Biden have not yet gone into effect.

Once the final rule is issued, and the requirements become more clear, we will prepare a summary detailing the same, and how our clients can effectively respond to the new rule.