CDC mask reversal poses problems for employers

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recent announcement (https://bit.ly/2Ry7lf2) permitting fully vaccinated individuals to live life virtually mask-free has created numerous problems for employers and workers considering a return to in-person work.

Agency, employer confusion

The unexpected announcement appears to have caught other federal agencies with analogous responsibilities by surprise, with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) scrambling to align their positions. OSHA quickly endorsed the CDC guidance, but the fate of its long-promised emergency temporary standard on COVID workplace protections was thrown into limbo. The standard still may include different rules for specific high-risk industries, but OSHA has clearly been reduced to a secondary role.

Employers are now left trying to understand how to accommodate the CDC guidance while also observing differing state and local laws and regulations, which the guidance doesn't supersede. For example, while some states have followed the CDC, others, including New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia, have advised they are making no immediate changes.

Further, the new rule complicates the difficult decisions employers must make, such as whether to mandate or incentivize vaccinations, whether to verify vaccination status, for whom to require masks, and how to deal with potential liability from these decisions.

Vaccination concerns