Employers: Confused About Biden’s Recent Vaccine Rules?

Lipp Law clears up confusion on recent vaccine rules that may apply to your workplace.

Private Employers with NO Federal Contracts: No Current Mandate

If you are a private employer and have no federal government contracts, you are not currently subject to any vaccination mandate. On November 6, 2021, the Fifth Circuit stayed (paused) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) one day after it was enacted and reaffirmed its stay on November 12. For more on the Fifth Circuit’s reaffirmed stay, click here. OSHA’s ETS mandated employers with 100 or more employees to implement a vaccination or test program.

OSHA is seeking guidance on applying its mandate to small businesses.[1]

The Sixth Circuit was recently selected by lottery to hear the multiple lawsuits against the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard.[2]

Private Employers with Federal Contracts: Mandate

–Vaccination Deadline Pushed to January 4, 2022

If you are an employer with federal government contracts, you are subject to Executive Order 14042 (the “Order”), Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, which applies on a contract by contract basis and requires workers supporting the contract to be vaccinated or qualify for a legal exemption. The Order applies to remote workers and does not have a test-out option like the OSHA rule.

The deadline for workers on federal contracts to be fully vaccinated was recently pushed from December 8, 2021, to January 4, 2022.

For more on the federal contractor vaccination requirements, click here.

Lipp Law helps employers and employees in the Washington DC metro area navigate HR rules, including vaccination mandates. Contact Lipp Law for legal assistance today.

[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/11/05/2021-23643/covid-19-vaccination-and-testing-emergency-temporary-standard (…” the agency is soliciting public comment and seeking additional information to assess the ability of smaller employers to do so in the rulemaking commenced by this ETS. OSHA will determine the issue on the basis of the record, after receiving public comment.”).

[2] https://www.npr.org/2021/11/16/1056121842/biden-lawsuit-osha-vaccine-mandate-court-lottery