On November 5, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor, through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), issued an Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Workers from Coronavirus (ETS). The ETS covers employers with 100 or more employees—firm or company-wide—and provides options for compliance. The ETS requires covered employers to develop, implement, and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. Alternatively, covered employers may adopt a policy requiring employees to choose between vaccination and regular COVID-19 testing and wearing a face covering at work. The ETS also requires covered employers to provide up to four hours of paid time to workers to get vaccinated and to allow for paid leave to recover from side effects.

In this week’s edition of our “Funny You Should Ask” series, Tom Godar and Terry Potter discuss whether there’s a need to bargain before imposing a mandate that employees are fully  vaccinated against COVID-19 before reporting to work: https://www.healthcarelawinsights.com/2021/05/funny-you-should-ask-is-a-vaccine-mandate-subject-of-bargaining/