OSHA is not a lawmaking body and it is not a fourth branch of government. However, they did create law which they forwarded to Joe Biden. Under their law, employers with more than 100 employees have a January 4th deadline to comply with Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, threatening thousands in fines for defiant businesses. It does provide a weekly testing alternative.
Companies subject to the rules must ensure that employees who aren’t vaccinated against Covid-19 produce a negative test at least weekly and wear a mask in the workplace. Employers aren’t required under the new policy to provide or pay for tests, with potential exceptions if collective bargaining agreements compel them to do so.
Employers who don’t adhere to the requirements could face penalties of up to around $13,600 per violation.
The OSHA rule (law) will be challenged immediately by Republican states and some business groups.
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Republican opposition to the policy has intensified since September when the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it would issue an emergency temporary standard implementing the new requirements.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich in September filed a lawsuit against Mr. Biden’s Covid-19 requirements for businesses and a set of rules for federal contractors. Many other states have also sought to challenge the administration’s mandate for federal contractors.
“Under our Constitution, the President is not a king who can exercise this sort of unbridled power unilaterally,” Mr. Brnovich said in his legal brief.
Sens. James Lankford (R., Okla.) and Mike Braun (R., Ind.) and 39 colleagues issued a statement Wednesday saying they disapprove of the vaccine requirement for employers.
“This unacceptable federal directive impacts tens of millions of Americans and warrants review by Congress, the representatives elected by the American people to make the laws,” the lawmakers said in a statement, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Separately, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is issuing a rule to require health care workers in facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid to be fully vaccinated with the same end date of January 4, Fox News reports. It will cover 17 million workers at 76,000 health care facilities. There is no testing alternative or medical or religious exemptions.
These mandates by departments of government cover two-thirds of the US workforce.
According to the Journal, employers subject to the new rules must require each vaccinated worker to provide proof of vaccination status, federal officials said. It’s either a passport or a signed affidavit.
The OSHA rules require those employers to provide paid time off to workers so they can receive the Covid-19 vaccine, as well as sick leave to recover from any side effects, and to ensure that unvaccinated employees wear a face mask while in the workplace by Dec. 5.
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