COVID-19 Vaccine and Testing ETS Paid Time Requirements

On Nov. 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced a COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS) to address the grave danger of COVID-19 infection in the workplace. Affected employers will be required to comply with most provisions of the ETS by Dec. 6, 2021, and with its testing requirements by Jan. 4, 2022. Affected employers include private employers with 100 or more employees (firmwide or companywide count).

On Nov. 6, 2021, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay effectively blocking enforcement of the ETS until a final decision is made.

The ETS requires employers to support vaccination by providing employees reasonable time, including up to four hours of paid time, to receive each primary vaccination dose and reasonable time and paid sick leave to recover from side effects following each primary vaccination dose.

“Fully vaccinated” means:

• A person’s status two weeks after completing primary vaccination with a COVID-19 vaccine with, if applicable, at least the minimum recommended interval between doses in accordance with the approval, authorization or listing; or
• A person’s status two weeks after receiving the second dose of any combination of two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine that is approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or listed as a two-dose series by the World Health Organization (WHO).

OSHA has stated that removing logistical barriers to obtaining vaccination is essential to increasing workforce vaccination rates. One such barrier for many employees is their lack of time off of work to receive the vaccine and recover from any potential side effects.

Employers should review, implement and enforce the requirements for helping employees with receiving the vaccination.

Continue reading this SSG Compliance Advisor that covers the requirements for employer support for employee vaccinations.

IMPORTANT DATES

Nov. 5, 2021
ETS effective date.

Dec. 6, 2021
Compliance date for most ETS provisions.

Jan. 4, 2022
Effective date for ETS testing requirement.