OSHA announces Emergency Temporary Standard on Vaccination and Testing
UPDATE: On November 6, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily halted OSHA’s Interim Final Rule on coronavirus vaccination and testing. OSHA is required to provide an expedited reply to the motion for a permanent injunction on November 8, followed by petitioners’ reply the next day.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA has announced a new Emergency Temporary Standard on Vaccination and Testing.
Here are four things you need to know:
- Employers with at least 100 employees will be required to adopt a mandatory vaccination policy unless they adopt a policy requiring unvaccinated workers to undergo weekly testing and wear a face covering at work.
- Covered employers must provide paid time for workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine and ensure workers have paid sick leave to recover from any side effects that prevent them from working.
- Employers must comply with most provisions by 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register, and comply with the testing requirement by 60 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register. Learn more about compliance dates here.
- Businesses that don’t comply may face significant OSHA fines.
Other helpful resources:
- Submit a comment: If you have comments, feedback, or information on OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS you would like the agency to consider, please submit a comment electronically at regulations.gov (Docket Number OSHA-2021-0007). You can consult OSHA’s How to Participate fact sheet to learn more about the process. (Please note: any information submitted only to this email address will not be part of the record and will not be considered by the agency.)
- Learn more: If you have questions or are looking for more information about the ETS, you can find fact sheets, FAQs, and compliance assistance materials at osha.gov/vaxETS.
- Spread the word: Help us spread the word in your communities about our actions to keep workers safe by using our social media toolkit.
For additional information on OSHA’s COVID-19 response visit osha.gov/coronavirus.
