On November 10, 2021, Eric Conn, Kate McMahon, and Lindsay DiSalvo presented a webinar regarding OSHA’s new COVID-19 vaccinate-or-test emergency rule.

In September, President Biden revealed a new COVID-19 Action Plan with one of several key goals to “Vaccinate the Unvaccinated.” The most notable aspect of that plan was a directive to federal OSHA to develop another COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard requiring many employers to implement a “soft” vaccine mandate; i.e., to require employees to either be fully vaccinated or submit to a weekly testing. The President also directed OSHA to include in this new ETS a requirement that employers provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated and recover from any side effects of the vaccine.

OSHA moved quickly in response to the President’s directive, and published the final ETS in the Federal Register on November 5, 2021. During this webinar, the attorneys from CMC’s OSHA and Employment Law practices provided a detailed analysis of the rule and addressed these important questions raised by the latest development on the COVID-19 front:

• What does OSHA’s new COVID-19 emergency rule require?
• Which employers are covered by the rule?
• Who (employers or employees) are required to pay for weekly testing of unvaccinated workers
• How is “fully vaccinated” defined in the ETS and does it include booster shots?
• Does the rule account in any way for natural immunity for employees who have been infected and recovered from COVID-19?
• What type of test are acceptable for the testing program?
• What documentation is required to verify vaccination and testing status, and for how long do employers have to keep those records?
• When does the rule and its various components go into effect?

We are pleased to share these links to a recording of the webinar and a copy of the slides.

This was the 15th webinar event in Conn Maciel Carey LLP’s 2021 OSHA Webinar Series.  Click here to view our full schedule and detailed program descriptions for all of the webinars in the 2021 OSHA Webinar Series.  If you missed any of our past webinars in our annual OSHA Webinar Series, view our OSHA Webinar Library to access of our webinar recordings. Also, click here to subscribe to our YouTube channel and get an email notification when new recordings become available.