OSHA Officially Files ETS on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has officially filed its emergency temporary standard (ETS) on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing. 

This ETS requires employers with 100 or more employees, firm- or corporate-wide, to do the following: 

• Determine the vaccination status of each employee, obtain acceptable proof of vaccination status from vaccinated employees and maintain records and a roster of each employee's vaccination status.  
• Provide paid time to workers to get vaccinated and to allow for paid leave to recover from any side effects.  
• Ensure each worker who is not fully vaccinated is tested for COVID-19 at least weekly (if the worker is in the workplace at least once a week) or within 7 days before returning to work (if the worker is away from the workplace for a week or longer). 
• Require employees to provide prompt notice when they test positive for COVID-19 or receive a COVID-19 diagnosis. Employers must then remove the employee from the workplace, regardless of vaccination status; employers must not allow them to return to work until they meet required criteria.  
• Ensure that, in most circumstances, each employee who has not been fully vaccinated wears a face covering when indoors or when occupying a vehicle with another person for work purposes. 

Employers must also support vaccination by providing employees reasonable time, including up to four hours of paid time, to receive each primary vaccination dose. This also includes reasonable time and paid sick leave to recover from any side effects experienced following each primary vaccination dose. 

The ETS is effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register and employers must comply with all aspects of this ETS within 60 days of publication (January 4, 2022). 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. In addition, the newly-released ETS will not be applied to workplaces subject to the federal contractor requirement or CMS rule, so employers will not have to track multiple vaccination requirements for the same employees. 

NECA is analyzing the ETS and will provide further guidance to our contractors in the coming days.

To read more, visit OSHA’s website.