President Biden’s new COVID-19 vaccine plan will affect employers

On September 9, the White House issued an updated COVID-19 plan. The Path Out of the Pandemic takes a six-pronged approach to fighting the pandemic:

1. Vaccinating the Unvaccinated
2. Further Protecting the Vaccinated
3. Keeping Schools Safely Open
4. Increasing Testing & Requiring Masking
5. Protecting Our Economic Recovery
6. Improving Care for those with COVID-19

Details on implementation will be provided in future regulatory guidance.

The plan will directly affect large employers, with Prong 1 having the most significant impact. Following is a high-level overview of the provisions around vaccinating the unvaccinated:

• Requiring employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly

  The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to either ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require unvaccinated workers to show a negative test result weekly before coming to work. OSHA will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement.

• Requiring employers with 100 or more employees to provide paid time off to get vaccinated

  OSHA is developing a rule that will require employers with more than 100 employees to provide paid time off for workers to get vaccinated or to recover post-vaccination. This requirement will be implemented through the ETS.

• Requiring vaccinations for all federal workers and contractors that do business with the federal government

  President Biden signed an Executive Order on requiring all federal executive branch workers to be vaccinated. The president also signed an Executive Order extending this requirement to employees of contractors and subcontractors that do business with the federal government.

• Requiring COVID-⁠19 vaccinations for healthcare workers at Medicare and Medicaid participating hospitals and other healthcare settings

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is acting to require COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most healthcare settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings and home health agencies.

Employers should continue to monitor developments as they become available and consider taking steps to prepare for implementation.