Biden Issues Vaccine Mandate for Companies of 100-Plus Employees

09/10/2021

President Joe Biden has announced that the U.S. Department of Labor is preparing a rule to require employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated — or require their unvaccinated workers to produce a negative test result on a weekly basis before coming to work. OSHA will soon issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement. Employers that do not comply will face fines of nearly $14,000 per violation. Biden’s plan includes several other actions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. The Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports that most Democrats and public health leaders praised Biden’s efforts, while many Republicans are questioning the president’s legal authority to issue the mandate. Legal challenges are expected, experts say. National Association of Manufacturers President and CEO Jay Timmons reacted by saying: “We look forward to working with the administration to ensure any vaccine requirements are structured in a way that does not negatively impact the operations of manufacturers that have been leading through the pandemic to keep Americans safe. It is important that undue compliance costs do not burden manufacturers, large and small alike.” For more details, check out the following resources:

The OMA will provide more details as they become available. Members should watch for the next OMA COVID-19 Update. Only 63% of Americans aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, as COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations continue to rise in Ohio and nationwide. Ohio has averaged 582 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past two weeks. Here’s the county-by-county breakdown, as well as the number of reported “breakthough” cases (compared to hospitalizations and deaths of Ohioans who weren’t fully vaccinated). 9/10/2021

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