Input Stories

The Biden administration is moving forward with vaccine requirements for private-sector companies with 100 employees or more, “setting the issue up for further legal challenges,” according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription).
 
What’s happening: “The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been developing the vaccine mandate under a federal rule-making called an emergency temporary standard. Employers who fall under the regulation must ‘develop, implement and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, unless they adopt a policy requiring employees to choose either to get vaccinated or to undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work,’ the Labor Department spokesperson said in a statement.”

Waiting for word: Many companies are awaiting further guidance before making their own vaccine rules. However, some, such as Tyson Foods, have (successfully) implemented their own mandates.

The details: “The OSHA rules also would require employers to provide paid time off to workers so they can receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Employers that don’t comply can face fines of up to roughly $13,600 a violation, the administration has said.”

• It is still unclear how OSHA, which has seen its inspector numbers decline in recent years, will enforce the mandate.
• Nearly 80% of adult Americans have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Our take: The NAM and The Manufacturing Institute have the resources to help manufacturers get themselves and their employees fully vaccinated. See This Is Our Shot for more information.