The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Friday released rules laying out the President Joe Biden administration’s mandate requiring that employers with at least 100 employees have their staff be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or get regularly tested starting in January.
Workers must be vaccinated by Jan. 4 to meet the requirements. Workers who choose not get vaccinated would be required to show a negative COVID-19 test once a week starting Jan. 4.
In tandem with the mandate from the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services also released a rule that all of the nation’s healthcare workers are to be vaccinated.
“No one should be at risk when they seek medical care,” Biden said in a release.
With these mandates in place, Biden said 100 million Americans will be covered.
“While I would have much preferred that requirements not become necessary, too many people remain unvaccinated for us to get out of this pandemic for good,” Biden said.
According to OSHA, employers may choose to not enforce the mandate. As a replacement, masks and weekly testing are required.
Test-at-home kits are not accepted.
If a business decides not to comply with the requirement, there will be a $13,000 fine per violation.
The 100-person staff is applicable to companies that have 100 employees in total — not per location. The decision was made because 100+ employee companies have the capacity to carry out the mandates without undue administrative or financial burden.
Part-time employees are counted toward the 100-person count while independent contractors are not.
“I’m calling on employers to act. Businesses have more power than ever before to accelerate our path out of this pandemic, save lives, and protect our economic recovery,” Biden said.
At the time this story was published, officials with major local employers like Daviess County and Owensboro Public Schools, as well as Owensboro Municipal Utilities, said they are reviewing the protocols and will provide more information as it is processed.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has already partnered with other attorneys general (in Idaho, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia) in a lawsuit against the President.
Cameron said they are filing the lawsuit asking that the mandate be removed.
“Many Kentuckians are concerned by the overreach the Biden administration is displaying in issuing a federal vaccine mandate through OSHA, and our office is taking action on their behalf and on behalf of the Commonwealth,” Cameron said.
