Employers are understandably confused about status of lawsuits that have temporarily blocked a federal vaccine-or-test mandate from taking effect and how they should handle workforce vaccination policies in the meantime.
On Wednesday, Dec. 15 Brian McGinnis, a Fox Rothchild attorney who advises businesses on a wide range of employment issues, will join NJBIA for a Zoom presentation to discuss the federal vaccine-or-test mandate, how to navigate employee accommodation requests related to vaccine policies, and more.
To register online for “Shots Fired: The Law and Employer Best Practices on COVID-19 Vaccinations,” at 9 a.m., Dec. 15, go here.
A Nov. 4 order by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which was later temporarily blocked by a federal court, had mandated private employers with 100 or more workers to require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, or wear masks and submit to regular COVID-19 testing.
Before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued the temporary stay, OSHA had given employers one month to determine which employees were still unvaccinated and require them to start wearing a mask in the workplace. The testing requirement for unvaccinated employees had been scheduled to take effect on Jan. 4, 2022.
All litigation related to the OSHA rule has since been transferred to the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati. For now, OSHA has suspended the implementation and enforcement of the vaccine-or-test mandate pending future legal developments in that case.
In the meantime, employers retain the option to voluntarily establish vaccine, testing or masking policies in their workplaces.
