Employers with 100+ employees face big task complying with new COVID-19 rules

Under a new emergency temporary standard (ETS) from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), businesses with at least 100 employees must develop, implement, and enforce a policy requiring their workers to either (1) become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or (2) undergo testing on at least a weekly basis and wear a face covering when at work. Time is short for covered employers to meet the big challenge, and here is what they need to know.

Effective dates

The ETS, which was announced on November 4, requires covered employers to develop and implement a compliant COVID-19 vaccination and testing policy by no later than December 5, but they have until January 4, 2022, to begin requiring weekly testing for unvaccinated employees. With only two months to prepare, they should immediately:

• Develop the policy, which must be implemented first; and
• Determine which employees covered by the ETS are unvaccinated so they will know who must undergo the weekly testing as of January 4.

Who’s covered

The ETS applies to all businesses with 100 or more employees at any time between November 5 and the expiration of the standard, including full-time, part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees subject to OSHA’s jurisdiction.

An employing entity with multiple worksites in the United States must count all of its employees together, regardless of which site serves as their base or primary location. It isn’t clear whether entities in the same corporate control group must aggregate their employees to determine ETS coverage.