How to Comply with OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination Emergency Temporary Standard
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released an emergency temporary standard (ETS) obligating employers with 100 or more employees to require vaccination or weekly testing and masking for their unvaccinated employees. The ETS requires covered employers to ensure all unvaccinated employees working in-person to begin wearing masks by Dec. 5, 2021, and provide a negative COVID-19 test on a weekly basis beginning Jan. 4, 2022.
Legal challenges to the ETS have been and will be made, but until these challenges are resolved, employers must prepare for compliance.
All requirements of the ETS, other than testing for unvaccinated employees, are effective 30 days after publication of the ETS in the federal register (i.e., Dec. 5, 2021).