Posts Tagged ‘covid vaccination’

The New OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS: On Hold Now but Maybe Coming Soon

Sunday, November 21st, 2021

Under the federal government’s COVID-19 Action Plan, three  separate, new vaccine mandates will affect local government employers. Of the three, one from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will have the greatest impact—if the courts let it stand. The new OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) will require employers to put […]

Which Local Health Department Employees Must Be Vaccinated under the New CMS Rule?

Monday, November 15th, 2021

Local government employers must now comply with three separate vaccine mandates from the federal government: one that requires employees of certain Medicare-certified healthcare organizations to receive a first dose by December 4, 2021 and a second dose by January 6, 2022 (the CMS Rule); one that requires employees of federal contractors to be vaccinated by […]

An In-Depth Look at Religious Exemptions from COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Friday, October 8th, 2021

An increasing number of employers are making vaccination against COVID-19 a condition of employment. In the near future, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the North Carolina Division of Occupational Safety and Health (NC OSH) are likely to require most larger employers to adopt a vaccine mandate (see here). Vaccine mandates are […]

An In-Depth Look at Medical Exemptions from COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates

Monday, October 4th, 2021

An increasing number of employers are making vaccination against COVID-19 a condition of employment. In the near future, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the North Carolina Division of Occupational Safety and Health (NC OSH) are likely to require most larger employers to adopt a vaccine mandate (see here). Vaccine mandates are […]

Will President Biden’s Emergency Vaccination-or-Weekly-Test Mandate Apply to Local Government Employers?

Thursday, September 23rd, 2021

On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced a new COVID-19 Action Plan that included three items of interest to local government employers: 1) a directive that certain employers ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming […]

COVID-19 and the Workplace Part 1: Vaccine Mandates, Vaccine Incentives and More

Monday, August 16th, 2021

In December 2020, I published a blog post titled May a Public Employer Require Vaccination Against COVID-19?. In that post I concluded that a public employer may require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. That conclusion has not changed. But much has happened since then, including publication of the […]

An Update on COVID-19 Vaccination for Local Government Employers

Thursday, March 4th, 2021

UPDATED MARCH 25, 2021 Starting now, many, but not all, local government employees are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations.  In an earlier blog post, I outlined North Carolina’s vaccination priority plan. The state has made changes to the plan to align it more closely with the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations and with the realities of […]

May a Public Employer Require Vaccination Against COVID-19?

Sunday, December 20th, 2020

UPDATED MARCH 25, 2021 Every year many employers choose to require employees to undergo vaccination against seasonal influenza (flu). This year, however, a different decision will confront employers: whether to require employees to undergo vaccination against COVID-19. The flu vaccine has been around for a long time and its side effects and efficacy are well […]