On November 5th the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of contracting COVID-19 by strongly encouraging vaccination. The ETS states covered employers must develop, implement, and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, with an exception for employers that instead adopt a policy requiring employees to either get vaccinated or elect to undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work in lieu of vaccination.
OSHA also issued that written comments, including comments on any aspect of this ETS and whether this ETS should become a final rule, must be submitted by December 6, 2021.
VTCA believes the 30 day comment period is much too short to fully understand the ETS and all the implications the standard may mean for large employers. VTCA has joined many other organizations in requesting a 60 day extension to the public comment period. The request sent by VTCA can be viewed here.