Vaccine Mandates and OSHA’s ETS: Key Updates and Deadlines Employers Need to Know Now

1
00:02:40.470 –> 00:02:47.430
MP: Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today for an important update on osha’s COVID 19 vaccination and testing ETS.

2
00:02:47.940 –> 00:02:58.920
MP: For those of you joining us on a webinar for the first time MP, is a full service human capital management company offering a complete suite of products and services to support employers to the entire employee lifecycle.

3
00:02:59.340 –> 00:03:05.490
MP: Including recruiting HR payroll benefits administration time and attendance and compliance assistance.

4
00:03:05.910 –> 00:03:21.420
MP: We support our clients with cutting edge technical solutions, as well as proactive reliable service and deep HR and payroll expertise MP, we are wired for HR and help our clients succeed by aligning their people strategy with their business goals.

5
00:03:23.490 –> 00:03:30.540
MP: I am thrilled to introduce your presenters for today to have MPs top HR experts sherry Heller and gencer a.

6
00:03:31.560 –> 00:03:43.620
MP: sherry is a Sherman Sherman phr certified HR partner here at Mt she has over 20 years of experience and employee relations, training and development strategic planning and policy development.

7
00:03:44.100 –> 00:03:55.500
MP: sherry earned a master of education and instructional design from umass and she spent many years in retail management prior to getting into HR which provides her with a unique business focused human resources.

8
00:03:56.340 –> 00:04:12.300
MP: Jen is a sherm certified HR partner here at an MP and she received her BA from Clark university and previously managed HR for the Northeast division of a national nonprofit organization Jen loves building relationships with her clients, but helping them meet their HR goals.

9
00:04:13.770 –> 00:04:24.630
MP: Just a few housekeeping items before we open the program today, please use the Q amp a feature at the bottom of the screen to submit your questions will be addressing questions at the end of the Program.

10
00:04:25.020 –> 00:04:33.270
MP: And later today we’ll be sending out a recording of the webinar along with the slide and other resources and with that i’m going to hand them off to Jen.

11
00:04:35.400 –> 00:04:47.010
Jen Serei: Thank you so much amy and before we get started, today, thank you all for for joining us on veterans day, some of you may be have the day off or you are working, we We appreciate you joining us.

12
00:04:47.550 –> 00:04:58.260
Jen Serei: This afternoon, but for once again, we do want to share our legal disclaimer and let you know that today’s training is intended for educational and informational purposes.

13
00:04:58.620 –> 00:05:08.880
Jen Serei: You know we’re coming out this from the HR perspective, we hope the learn a lot today we’re not attorney so the information that we share today should not be construed as legal advice.

14
00:05:11.940 –> 00:05:22.860
Jen Serei: Okay, so let’s look at the topics will be going over today will first go over who’s considered a covered employer for the ETS, the requirements of the ETS.

15
00:05:23.400 –> 00:05:41.130
Jen Serei: Mandatory vaccination policies, how to go about determining the vaccination status of your employees weekly covert testing and then we’ll share some helpful resources and we’ll also do our best to save some time on the end of the presentation to answer all of your questions.

16
00:05:45.000 –> 00:05:55.590
Jen Serei: So first things first on November 4 OSHA released its highly anticipated coven 19 vaccination, emergency temporary standard.

17
00:05:56.010 –> 00:06:02.010
Jen Serei: Establishing a new mandatory vaccination requirements for private employers with 100 or more employees.

18
00:06:02.520 –> 00:06:15.240
Jen Serei: Then, two days later, the US fifth circuit Court of Appeals issue to stay freezing the ETS through is also facing other separate legal challenges So where are we now with this mandate.

19
00:06:16.050 –> 00:06:26.430
Jen Serei: While the federal appeals court is considering arguments for and against a permanent injunction larger employers should still become familiarized with the requirements of the ETS and plan to up.

20
00:06:26.970 –> 00:06:31.800
Jen Serei: A plan and put a plan in place to implement these requirements in the event the stays lifted.

21
00:06:32.280 –> 00:06:46.680
Jen Serei: And this is important because, if and when the stays lifted, we aren’t sure if the timeframe, or the deadlines will change or if they’ll stay the same, and there are significant penalties for noncompliance so it’s going to be essential that you’re prepared to follow the ETS.

22
00:06:50.370 –> 00:06:59.160
Jen Serei: and private employers with 100 or more employees company wide, not by individual work location are considered covered employers.

23
00:06:59.850 –> 00:07:08.760
Jen Serei: Employers with a fluctuating headcount will need to start by determining the number of employees, they had as of the November 5 effective date of the standard.

24
00:07:09.390 –> 00:07:17.940
Jen Serei: If you had 100 or more employees as of November November 5 etfs applies for the duration of the standard, even if you’re headcount drops below 100.

25
00:07:18.660 –> 00:07:27.330
Jen Serei: If you had less than 100 employees on November 5 but then you go and hire more and more workers and hit that 100 employee threshold for coverage.

26
00:07:27.570 –> 00:07:33.510
Jen Serei: You would then be expected to come into compliance with the standards requirements so essentially once an employer has come.

27
00:07:33.990 –> 00:07:43.080
Jen Serei: Within the scope of the ETS the standard continues to apply for the remainder of the time it’s an effect, regardless of fluctuations in the size of the employers workforce.

28
00:07:43.590 –> 00:07:47.370
Jen Serei: So now let’s talk about which workplaces are not covered by the ETS.

29
00:07:48.210 –> 00:08:00.210
Jen Serei: workplaces covered under the safer federal workforce Task Force coven 19 workplace safety guidance for federal contractors and subcontractors that was published by OSHA on September 24.

30
00:08:00.840 –> 00:08:12.840
Jen Serei: As well as settings where any employee provides health care services or healthcare support services when subject to their apartments of the healthcare ETS published by OSHA on June 21.

31
00:08:13.410 –> 00:08:21.210
Jen Serei: workplaces of employers who have fewer than 100 employees total and public employers in states without state plans.

32
00:08:24.210 –> 00:08:39.000
Jen Serei: So how our employees counted all employees, including part time employees and those working from home count towards the threshold, as well as seasonal or temporary workers who are employed directly by the business.

33
00:08:39.960 –> 00:08:53.550
Jen Serei: On a multi employer work site like a construction site each company represented, including the host employer, the general contractor in each subcontractor would only need to count its own employees.

34
00:08:54.660 –> 00:09:02.370
Jen Serei: and independent contractors and seasonal or temporary workers who are employed through a staffing agency do not count towards the threshold.

35
00:09:06.030 –> 00:09:12.660
Jen Serei: Now, one does this take effect if it all goes down, as we are currently understanding it.

36
00:09:13.290 –> 00:09:24.570
Jen Serei: we’re not sure if the state issued by the Federal Court of Appeals will impact these dates, but as per the ETS, the deadline for employers to enforce the mask mandate and other provisions of the ETS is December 5.

37
00:09:24.960 –> 00:09:36.810
Jen Serei: And workers must be vaccinated or start getting tested by January 4 OSHA anticipates that the ETS will be in effect for six months, but there is a possibility that it could be extended or made more permanent.

38
00:09:38.940 –> 00:09:55.050
Jen Serei: All right, state OSHA plan so currently 22 states have OSHA approved state plans regulating private sector employers and generally those state plans must be at least as effective as a standards set by OSHA.

39
00:09:55.800 –> 00:10:05.190
Jen Serei: The federal OSHA ETS will not apply immediately in those States they have 30 days to adopt the federal standard or inform OSHA of their plans to do something else.

40
00:10:08.250 –> 00:10:10.980
Jen Serei: Okay now let’s talk about vaccine exceptions.

41
00:10:12.090 –> 00:10:21.810
Jen Serei: If an employer is covered by the ETS it doesn’t mean that all of its employees have to follow the provisions of the ETS, the requirements of ETS don’t apply to.

42
00:10:22.230 –> 00:10:31.260
Jen Serei: Employees who do not report to a workplace where other individuals are present employees working from home employees who work exclusively outdoors.

43
00:10:32.010 –> 00:10:43.320
Jen Serei: So a little more information on how you define outdoors because there are some pretty strict guidelines there in order to qualify as work performed exclusively outdoors.

44
00:10:43.860 –> 00:10:52.200
Jen Serei: The employee must work out the doors on all days, for example, an employee who works indoors on some days and outdoors and other days would not be exempt.

45
00:10:52.710 –> 00:11:02.070
Jen Serei: Employee might not must not routinely occupy vehicles with other employees as part of work duties, so you know they couldn’t drive to work sites together and a company vehicle.

46
00:11:02.940 –> 00:11:07.860
Jen Serei: And then the employee works outdoors for the duration of every work day, except for.

47
00:11:08.220 –> 00:11:19.650
Jen Serei: The de minimis use of indoor spaces or other individuals may be present, so that means no a multi stalled bathroom or an administrative office as long as the time spent endorses brief.

48
00:11:20.280 –> 00:11:33.930
Jen Serei: And the employees work must truly occur outdoors which does not include buildings under construction were are substantial portions of the structure in place, such as walls and ceiling elements that would impede the natural flow of fresh air at the work site.

49
00:11:36.630 –> 00:11:45.690
Jen Serei: Okay, and exceptions from a mandatory vaccination policy would include accommodations made for those with medical contraindications.

50
00:11:46.170 –> 00:11:54.510
Jen Serei: Medical necessity requiring delay and vaccination or reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities or sincerely held religious beliefs.

51
00:11:55.200 –> 00:12:04.530
Jen Serei: And under the Ada employers must evaluate request to determine whether a reasonable accommodation would enable the employee to perform all essential functions of their job.

52
00:12:04.830 –> 00:12:11.820
Jen Serei: Without posing a direct threat to the safety of themselves or others which cannot be eliminated or reduce through reasonable accommodation.

53
00:12:12.690 –> 00:12:26.700
Jen Serei: For religious accommodations you should confirm whether the employees accommodation request is based upon us sincerely held religion religious belief or practice how receiving the vaccine would violate the employees beliefs and what accommodation deploy is requesting.

54
00:12:27.870 –> 00:12:38.280
Jen Serei: Employees who fall under these exceptions would still need to follow the procedures applicable to employees who are not fully vaccinated including coven 19 testing and the use of face coverings.

55
00:12:41.370 –> 00:12:54.480
Jen Serei: Okay, that let’s talk about the written vaccination policy, the ETS requires employers to develop, implement and enforce a mandatory coven 19 vaccination policy with an exception for employees.

56
00:12:55.290 –> 00:13:06.780
Jen Serei: For what for employers that instead establish implemented enforce the policy allowing employees who are not fully vaccinated to elect to undergo weekly coven 19 testing and we’re face covering at the workplace.

57
00:13:07.980 –> 00:13:15.930
Jen Serei: threaten vaccination policy should address all the applicable requirements of the standard, including requirements for coven 19 vaccination.

58
00:13:16.200 –> 00:13:26.280
Jen Serei: Any applicable exclusions from the written policy that we already covered the medical contraindications medical necessity requiring delays and vaccination or the reasonable accommodations for.

59
00:13:26.610 –> 00:13:36.000
Jen Serei: Workers with disabilities are sincerely held religious beliefs information on determining and employees vaccination status and how this information will be collected.

60
00:13:36.900 –> 00:13:50.640
Jen Serei: Paid time and sickly for vaccination purposes notification of positive coven 19 tests and removal of coven 19 positive employees from the workplace and disciplinary action for employees who did not comply with the policy.

61
00:13:51.870 –> 00:13:58.170
Jen Serei: Employers should also include all relevant information regarding the policies effective date who the policy applies to.

62
00:13:58.590 –> 00:14:07.590
Jen Serei: deadlines for submitting vaccination information for getting vaccinated and procedures for compliance and enforcement, all of which are necessary components of an effective plan.

63
00:14:08.490 –> 00:14:14.790
Jen Serei: and employers are permitted to implement a partial mandatory vaccination policy that applies to only a portion of their workforce.

64
00:14:15.120 –> 00:14:24.480
Jen Serei: That example, might be a retail employer who has a mixture of staff working at the corporate headquarters performing interment telework at home and working in store serving customers.

65
00:14:24.960 –> 00:14:38.130
Jen Serei: In this type of situation, the employer may choose to require vaccination of only some subset of its employees, such as those working in stores and to treat vaccination is optional for others, such as those who work from headquarters or who telework.

66
00:14:40.200 –> 00:14:49.170
Jen Serei: Okay, and some additional requirements employers are also required to provide each employee with information about the requirements of the ETS.

67
00:14:49.710 –> 00:14:59.580
Jen Serei: With the CDC document key things to know about coven 19 vaccines, which explains the vaccine efficacy safety and the benefits of being vaccinated.

68
00:15:00.330 –> 00:15:09.120
Jen Serei: protections against retaliation and discrimination and laws that provide for criminal penalties for knowingly supplying false statements or documentation.

69
00:15:10.320 –> 00:15:18.870
Jen Serei: And with that i’m going to hand the virtual MIC over to sherry to talk about proof of vaccination and take us through the rest of the presentation.

70
00:15:20.070 –> 00:15:29.490
Sheri Heller: Thanks Jen and good afternoon everybody and just For your information, I know Jen said at the beginning, we have resources at the end of the presentation, so all of the things that john just covered.

71
00:15:29.880 –> 00:15:37.920
Sheri Heller: sample policies and all of these additional notifications that you have to give employees, we have links to those at the end of the presentation.

72
00:15:38.850 –> 00:15:47.490
Sheri Heller: So let’s talk about all the fun stuff proof of vaccination so covered employers are going to need to determine the vaccination status of each employee in the company.

73
00:15:47.850 –> 00:15:56.400
Sheri Heller: Employers must also obtain acceptable proof of vaccination from vaccinated employees and maintain records of the employees vaccination status.

74
00:15:56.640 –> 00:16:08.490
Sheri Heller: which would include whether they are fully or partially vaccinated and when we say fully vaccinated That means that they are two weeks beyond their second dose if it’s a Pfizer or Madonna.

75
00:16:09.180 –> 00:16:17.490
Sheri Heller: vaccine or two weeks fall after the one dose of Johnson and Johnson vaccine so that’s how they define fully vaccinated.

76
00:16:17.850 –> 00:16:24.120
Sheri Heller: You want to keep in mind that the proof of vaccination is considered a medical record and employers should treat that as such.

77
00:16:24.720 –> 00:16:33.390
Sheri Heller: So what are acceptable proof proof of vaccination, according to the ETS, that would be a record of immunization for my health care provider of pharmacy.

78
00:16:33.960 –> 00:16:42.990
Sheri Heller: A copy of the coven vaccination record card that’s at CDC card that many of us got when, if you went to a mass vaccination site.

79
00:16:43.950 –> 00:16:54.990
Sheri Heller: You could also have a copy of a medical records documenting the vaccination a copy of immunization records from a public health state or tribal immunization information system.

80
00:16:55.650 –> 00:17:08.250
Sheri Heller: or any other official documentation, but it has to include the type of vaccination administered the dates of the administration and the name of the health care professional or clinic site that administered the vaccine.

81
00:17:09.120 –> 00:17:17.580
Sheri Heller: So for employees who are unable to produce proof of vaccination if they tell you they have been vaccinated but they can’t find their card they don’t know how to get a copy.

82
00:17:17.970 –> 00:17:30.780
Sheri Heller: A signed and dated employee at a station is acceptable, so the station needs to state that their vaccines state their vaccinations status in that they have lost end are otherwise unable to produce proof.

83
00:17:31.200 –> 00:17:43.590
Sheri Heller: In these cases, you must also require the employee to declare that the statement of the vaccination status is true, and that the understand that providing false information may subject them to criminal penalties.

84
00:17:43.830 –> 00:17:49.080
Sheri Heller: And that’s part of that notice that just went over that you’ll be giving to employees.

85
00:17:50.370 –> 00:17:50.910
Sheri Heller: Another.

86
00:17:52.380 –> 00:17:59.790
Sheri Heller: piece of this ETS is that employers are also required to keep an up to date roster of each employees vaccination status.

87
00:18:00.150 –> 00:18:09.480
Sheri Heller: And now, this roster needs to include a list of all of your employees in an indicator for each one whether the employee has been fully vaccinated partially vaccinated.

88
00:18:09.810 –> 00:18:18.090
Sheri Heller: Not vaccinated because of a medical or religious accommodation or not fully vaccinated because they haven’t provided acceptable proof of vaccination.

89
00:18:18.390 –> 00:18:31.470
Sheri Heller: So let’s say an employee says they are fully vaccinated but they haven’t given you proof yet on that roster they would be bullet Point number four until you have proof that they have been fully or partially vaccinated you would consider them not fully vaccinated.

90
00:18:32.940 –> 00:18:33.480
Sheri Heller: alright.

91
00:18:34.500 –> 00:18:42.000
Sheri Heller: So another piece of the provision is a paid time off for vaccinations and there’s still a little a few questions going on about this.

92
00:18:42.300 –> 00:18:45.180
Sheri Heller: That we hope to get some clarification on from the Department of Labor.

93
00:18:45.600 –> 00:18:57.330
Sheri Heller: So the ETS requires employers to support employee vaccinations by allowing them up to four hours of paid time off for employees to receive each primary vaccination dose.

94
00:18:57.720 –> 00:19:07.590
Sheri Heller: And the reason they specify primary vaccination dose is that a lot of lot of employees or a lot of people are eligible for that third booster shot for Pfizer or Madonna.

95
00:19:08.220 –> 00:19:15.720
Sheri Heller: So that would not be subject to this extra four hours of paid time off only those primary doses.

96
00:19:16.380 –> 00:19:28.530
Sheri Heller: The paid time, excuse me for receiving vaccination can’t be offset by any other leave that the employees accrued such as sick or vacation time, so you can’t require them to use a sick or vacation time first in.

97
00:19:29.100 –> 00:19:38.280
Sheri Heller: To get the vaccination, however, if an employee chooses to receive a primary vaccination goes outside of work hours that say they go on the weekends, to get the vaccine.

98
00:19:38.580 –> 00:19:46.140
Sheri Heller: Employers are not required to grant paid time to that employee, for the time spent receiving the vaccine during non work hours.

99
00:19:46.920 –> 00:19:58.140
Sheri Heller: And players are also required to provide what they call reasonable time and paid sick leave to employees to recover from side effects that they experience, following a primary vaccination dose.

100
00:19:58.440 –> 00:20:03.600
Sheri Heller: But the standard does not specify the amount of paid sick time that the employee is required to provide.

101
00:20:04.470 –> 00:20:14.100
Sheri Heller: Employers can set a cap on the amount of paid sick leave available to the employees to recover, excuse me from any side effects, but the CAP has to be what they consider reasonable.

102
00:20:14.580 –> 00:20:19.800
Sheri Heller: So in the OSHA faq and there’s a link for this again at the end of the presentation.

103
00:20:20.100 –> 00:20:30.240
Sheri Heller: It states that the employer would be in compliance if an employer makes available up to two days of paid sick leave per primary vaccination does for side effects.

104
00:20:30.660 –> 00:20:39.540
Sheri Heller: Now, why is this in the faq and not in the standard itself, I couldn’t tell you, but at least we have some guidance as to what they would consider quote unquote reasonable time.

105
00:20:40.110 –> 00:20:56.520
Sheri Heller: So employers can require employees to use accrued sickly or pto if it includes sick time for this purpose, but you, they must provide, but you must provide additional paid time off for anybody who has exhausted or doesn’t have any sick or pto available.

106
00:20:59.190 –> 00:21:08.370
Sheri Heller: Alright, so let’s move on to weekly testing so again for those For those of you who determine that you’re going to go with if you’re not going to go with a mandatory.

107
00:21:09.000 –> 00:21:18.870
Sheri Heller: vaccination policy or even if you do go for mandatory vaccination policy and you do have certain individuals who have reasonable accommodations.

108
00:21:19.410 –> 00:21:27.480
Sheri Heller: They will still have to have weekly testing, so the ETS requires that weekly testing of all unvaccinated employees.

109
00:21:28.080 –> 00:21:32.400
Sheri Heller: including those entitled to a reasonable accommodation from vaccination requirements.

110
00:21:32.790 –> 00:21:41.880
Sheri Heller: However, if testing for coven 19 conflicts with a worker sincerely held religious belief practice or observance, the worker would be entitled to a reasonable accommodation.

111
00:21:42.660 –> 00:21:48.000
Sheri Heller: So the weekly testing applies to employees who report to the workplace, at least once every seven days.

112
00:21:48.330 –> 00:22:01.200
Sheri Heller: And the employees must provide documentation of the most recent coven 19 tasks, no later than the seventh day following the date the employee last provided the coven 19 test result bottom line is once a week every seven days.

113
00:22:02.040 –> 00:22:10.050
Sheri Heller: The requirements of the standard do not apply to employees who don’t report to the workplace or other individuals such as coworkers or customers or present.

114
00:22:10.740 –> 00:22:18.090
Sheri Heller: Or, while working from home so some employees might work in a maybe a remote office, where there are no other employees.

115
00:22:18.510 –> 00:22:26.040
Sheri Heller: Or if they are working from home 100% of the time they would not have to have they would not have to comply with these weekly.

116
00:22:26.880 –> 00:22:34.470
Sheri Heller: code tests, however, if those same employees do come into the office periodically let’s say once a month, they come in for meetings.

117
00:22:35.220 –> 00:22:42.570
Sheri Heller: They must be tested for code within seven days prior to returning to the workplace and provide documentation of that test result.

118
00:22:43.410 –> 00:22:51.330
Sheri Heller: No employers are going to be required to maintain a record of each test result required to be provided that will be provided by the employee.

119
00:22:51.870 –> 00:22:59.430
Sheri Heller: The records must be maintained as employee medical records, it must not be disclosed except as required by the ETS or other federalize.

120
00:22:59.940 –> 00:23:10.230
Sheri Heller: However, these records are not subject to the same retention requirements, but must be maintained and preserved, while this ETS remains in effect so For those of you who are familiar with OSHA standards.

121
00:23:10.950 –> 00:23:20.880
Sheri Heller: OSHA anything related to workplace illness or injury generally has to be kept for 30 years and honestly to keep all of this proof of vaccination and proof of testing.

122
00:23:21.330 –> 00:23:31.140
Sheri Heller: This is going to be a lot of documentation for some employers to keep that for 30 years would be pretty daunting so this will only need to be kept, while the ETS is still in effect.

123
00:23:33.690 –> 00:23:44.820
Sheri Heller: All right, so with the weekly testing and under the ETS a covert test must be a test for SARS coby to that’s cleared approved in authorized in an.

124
00:23:45.150 –> 00:23:50.400
Sheri Heller: Emergency use authorization or by the US Food and Drug Administration administration, the FDA.

125
00:23:51.000 –> 00:23:58.500
Sheri Heller: to detect current infection, those are also known as viral tests, it has to be administered in accordance with the authorized instructions.

126
00:23:58.890 –> 00:24:08.190
Sheri Heller: And this is the big piece of it, the test can’t be both self administered and self read unless it’s observed by the employer or an authorized Tele health proctor.

127
00:24:08.430 –> 00:24:16.740
Sheri Heller: So what that means is that your employees can’t do a an over the counter tested home and then come in and say hey look it’s negative.

128
00:24:17.370 –> 00:24:23.040
Sheri Heller: You have to be you have to see that the test is being done administered in.

129
00:24:23.850 –> 00:24:34.080
Sheri Heller: Red so for a lot of employers, it may make sense to have the employees come in 15 minutes early because most of the over the counter tests really only take about 15 minutes.

130
00:24:34.620 –> 00:24:44.490
Sheri Heller: Do the test there, while there is somebody present it for the employer to proctor the test and then, once you find out that the negative send them off to work.

131
00:24:45.480 –> 00:24:52.440
Sheri Heller: So examples of test that satisfy this requirement include tests with specimens that are processed a lab.

132
00:24:52.860 –> 00:25:02.130
Sheri Heller: proctored over the counter tests that you can pick up in in most pharmacies point of care test, those are the ones where you might go to urgent care your doctor’s office.

133
00:25:02.610 –> 00:25:14.280
Sheri Heller: And test scores specimen collection and processing is either done or observed by the employer again, that means that you have your they’re doing it on your premises, that you can see that they have tested negative.

134
00:25:14.700 –> 00:25:34.740
Sheri Heller: On the practice so For those of you who have employees who are let’s say employees who are on the road or don’t come into your workplace, but they do go into say client homes customer homes or customer workplaces, you may have to use technology to be able to proctor these tests.

135
00:25:35.850 –> 00:25:44.400
Sheri Heller: coven 19 House can Bradley be divided into two categories, so there are a diagnostic tests, an antibody test, so the diagnostic tests.

136
00:25:45.000 –> 00:25:50.910
Sheri Heller: detect parts of the movie stars could be to virus and they can be used to diagnose current infection.

137
00:25:51.510 –> 00:26:08.490
Sheri Heller: On the other hand, the antibody tests look for in our bodies and the immune system that are produced in response to source code to and are not used to diagnose an active code 19 infection, so those antibody tests do not meet the definition of coven 19 test for the purpose of this ETS.

138
00:26:09.750 –> 00:26:14.940
Sheri Heller: The ETS also allows for poor testing and that can satisfy employers testing requirements.

139
00:26:15.540 –> 00:26:30.900
Sheri Heller: If the pool specimen is negative, all employees to protest participated in the tests are considered negative if the pool specimen is positive additional individual testing is going to be required to determine whether employees, which employees are positive or negative.

140
00:26:33.240 –> 00:26:46.050
Sheri Heller: Alright, so the big city, who pays for this coven a testing is the $64,000 question the ETS does not require players to pay for the cost of the coven 19 testing.

141
00:26:46.470 –> 00:26:53.790
Sheri Heller: However, an employer may be required to pay for the testing if it’s required by other laws, regulations or a collective bargaining agreement.

142
00:26:54.810 –> 00:27:03.360
Sheri Heller: So, for example, if an employee was exempted from a coven 18 vaccine requirement do a disability or metal medical contract and indication.

143
00:27:03.840 –> 00:27:10.440
Sheri Heller: If the back to the vaccine, you would be required to pay for testing as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

144
00:27:11.040 –> 00:27:20.610
Sheri Heller: In addition, some states such as Kentucky require employers to cover the costs of any employer required tests, so it really is going to be important for those of you who have.

145
00:27:21.030 –> 00:27:27.600
Sheri Heller: Who are multi state employers to know which states do require you to cover the cost of these tests.

146
00:27:28.320 –> 00:27:33.930
Sheri Heller: they’re not currently under the Department of Labor guidance employers are required to pay employees for time spent.

147
00:27:34.230 –> 00:27:45.690
Sheri Heller: Waiting for and receiving medical attention, which would include coven 19 testing at the employers direction war on the form their premises during regular work hours under the fair Labor standards act.

148
00:27:46.140 –> 00:27:53.940
Sheri Heller: So this is this likely includes requiring required testing occurring on the employees day on an employee’s day off as well.

149
00:27:54.390 –> 00:28:03.480
Sheri Heller: So the Department of Labor has said that they will be updating guidance on the impact of the ETS, so this may change so just keep an eye out for those up that updated guidance.

150
00:28:03.840 –> 00:28:14.940
Sheri Heller: The Department of Labor has a really, really good faq on anything related to cover 19 so just keep an eye on that they will update that periodically.

151
00:28:15.390 –> 00:28:27.210
Sheri Heller: So until the Department of Labor clarifies whether an employer is required to pay for an employee’s time getting tested it’s really recommended to err on the side of caution and pain, please for that time spent.

152
00:28:30.240 –> 00:28:34.650
Sheri Heller: Alright, so what happens if you have an employee who test positive for co admin team.

153
00:28:35.400 –> 00:28:43.230
Sheri Heller: The standard requires that employees promptly notify their employer when they receive a positive test or they’re diagnosed with coven 19.

154
00:28:44.100 –> 00:28:55.830
Sheri Heller: And then the employer must immediately remove that employee from the workplace, regardless of their vaccination status, so, even if they are fully vaccinated if they test positive and we’re all aware that there are have been numerous breakthrough.

155
00:28:56.280 –> 00:29:06.270
Sheri Heller: Cases so if they test positive, they have to be removed from the workplace and you need to keep the employee out of the workplace until they’ve met the return to work criteria of the standard.

156
00:29:07.380 –> 00:29:12.780
Sheri Heller: The standard doesn’t require the removal of an unvaccinated employee if they’ve been exposed to a coven.

157
00:29:13.350 –> 00:29:24.780
Sheri Heller: positive person, nor does the ETS required notification alerts or contact tracing after the employee test positive for coven so you’re not required if an employee test positive.

158
00:29:25.050 –> 00:29:33.120
Sheri Heller: Under the etfs you’re not required to alert the you’re not required to alert anybody or to do any contact tracing.

159
00:29:33.690 –> 00:29:48.660
Sheri Heller: But you should follow any state and local public health guidance for contact tracing so our recommendation would be that if you do have somebody test positive contact your local or State Department of public health, to find out what their guidance is.

160
00:29:49.710 –> 00:30:04.890
Sheri Heller: The employer must keep the employee removed from the from the workplace until the employee either receive a negative result on a coven 19 what they call an na T test following a put a positive result on a coven 19 antigen test.

161
00:30:05.460 –> 00:30:24.840
Sheri Heller: Or the employee needs to return to work criteria in the CDC isolation guidance, or if the employee receives a recommendation to return to work from a licensed health care provider So those are the only three situations in which the employee can return to work after testing positive.

162
00:30:26.970 –> 00:30:35.250
Sheri Heller: or even another big piece of this requirement is for anybody who’s unvaccinated to wear a face, covering in addition to that weekly testing.

163
00:30:35.670 –> 00:30:40.650
Sheri Heller: So under the ETS a face, covering has to completely cover the nose and mouth.

164
00:30:41.160 –> 00:30:51.600
Sheri Heller: It has to be made of two or more layers of breathable breathable fabric that’s tightly woven so, for example, fabrics that do not let life pass through when you hold them up to a light source.

165
00:30:51.960 –> 00:31:00.150
Sheri Heller: The face covering must be secure, to the head with ties your loops or elastic bands that go behind the head if they’re going to wear gators.

166
00:31:00.570 –> 00:31:05.070
Sheri Heller: They should have two layers of fabric, or they should be folded up to make to where.

167
00:31:06.000 –> 00:31:20.430
Sheri Heller: They must fit snugly over the nose mouth and chin with no large gaps on the outside of the face, and they must be a solid piece of material without slits exhalation valves visible holes poachers or any other openings.

168
00:31:23.130 –> 00:31:30.270
Sheri Heller: All right, and this is a another fun OSHA requirement and it’s going to be again really.

169
00:31:30.630 –> 00:31:42.420
Sheri Heller: tricky for employers to determine, but the ETS also does require you to report each work related coven 19 fatality to OSHA within eight hours of learning about them in.

170
00:31:42.960 –> 00:31:49.680
Sheri Heller: Work related coven 19 in patient hospitalizations within 24 hours of the employer learning about the hospitalization.

171
00:31:50.280 –> 00:31:57.150
Sheri Heller: So, how does an employer determine if a coven 18 fatality or hospitalization is work related, this is really, really tricky.

172
00:31:57.660 –> 00:32:02.580
Sheri Heller: So we look to the to the OSHA standards regarding illness or injury.

173
00:32:03.180 –> 00:32:14.460
Sheri Heller: In under OSHA regulations and employer must consider an injury or illness, to be work related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition.

174
00:32:14.910 –> 00:32:26.850
Sheri Heller: So if the coven 19 exposure event likely occurred within the employees work environment in the subsequent illness led to either death or Inpatient hospitalization reporting of the incident would be required.

175
00:32:27.510 –> 00:32:36.540
Sheri Heller: So an employer is not required to report a fatality of hospitalization if the employer determines that the exposure to coven clearly did not occur in the workplace.

176
00:32:36.780 –> 00:32:45.780
Sheri Heller: So, for example, if an employee has been on vacation when the case of coven was contracted this would be an indication that it that this was not a workplace exposure event.

177
00:32:46.590 –> 00:32:56.700
Sheri Heller: As always, I would err on the side of caution, if you are, if you can’t really determine whether it was contacted at work, you may want to report these incidents.

178
00:32:58.680 –> 00:33:06.780
Sheri Heller: All right, the cost of non compliance so as Jen mentioned in the beginning of the presentation, despite the current Court of Appeal stay.

179
00:33:06.960 –> 00:33:14.100
Sheri Heller: And players really should be taking time to get their policies set and figure out the logistics of implementing the ETS in the workplace.

180
00:33:14.670 –> 00:33:21.750
Sheri Heller: Are you going to go with a mandatory vaccination policy or allow the testing option, how are you going to attract vaccinations status.

181
00:33:22.140 –> 00:33:30.780
Sheri Heller: Excuse me, and how we collect and store proof of vaccination and test results will you have employees do a proper test at the workplace or the local clinic.

182
00:33:31.140 –> 00:33:38.670
Sheri Heller: You have to be able to hit the ground running if and when this ETS goes into effect, because the cost of non compliance can be very expensive.

183
00:33:39.420 –> 00:33:45.900
Sheri Heller: covered employers who ignore the ETS wallets in effect could face OSHA citations and penalties of up to.

184
00:33:46.440 –> 00:33:57.870
Sheri Heller: $13,653 per violation and additional citations are penalties that are determined by OSHA or state OSHA for willful or egregious failures to comply.

185
00:33:58.470 –> 00:34:04.860
Sheri Heller: So this means that covered employer could face a penalty of that amount for each facility area within a facility.

186
00:34:05.160 –> 00:34:13.830
Sheri Heller: or each employee within a facility, so what happens here is that if you are showing good faith and you’re trying hard to comply with this.

187
00:34:14.130 –> 00:34:35.610
Sheri Heller: That that violation may only apply to your one location, but if they determine that you have just willfully just disregarded ETS or any other religious failure to comply, they could cite you and have you have that 13,006 months $653 per employee he it can get very, very costly.

188
00:34:36.630 –> 00:34:49.770
Sheri Heller: So in addition to OSHA citations and penalties, the covered employers can also face potential exposure for individual whistleblower retaliation negligence and other claims potentially asserted by employees.

189
00:34:50.040 –> 00:35:09.000
Sheri Heller: So it’s not just OSHA coming in and checking these records, it could be an employee or even a customer calling and reporting to OSHA that you’re not complying with these standards so again, this really could get very tricky for employers so to not comply could be extremely expensive.

190
00:35:10.950 –> 00:35:22.500
Sheri Heller: Alright, so as promised resource pages, so we put together some resources for you in order to get the ball rolling, this first link is the main page regarding the ETS on the.

191
00:35:23.220 –> 00:35:35.220
Sheri Heller: website and has links to all the resources got a lot of great information there, there are also sample policies links to the sample policies for mandatory vaccination or the one for the testing option.

192
00:35:36.900 –> 00:35:45.240
Sheri Heller: On this page, these are the notices that Jen reviewed earlier that you have to provide employees, in addition to your policy So these are the links for those.

193
00:35:46.620 –> 00:35:50.910
Sheri Heller: And finally, on this page, there is the link for how to report.

194
00:35:52.080 –> 00:35:59.220
Sheri Heller: Or how what coven 19 fatalities and Inpatient hospitalization Jeff to provide or report.

195
00:35:59.970 –> 00:36:11.070
Sheri Heller: And then there is the emergency temporary standard faq have to tell you, without a doubt, this should be the standard every agency uses as far as their faq is it’s an excellent faq.

196
00:36:11.700 –> 00:36:19.020
Sheri Heller: do take time to review it it’s got it just it’s very, very clear as to what their expectations are.

197
00:36:19.380 –> 00:36:26.820
Sheri Heller: And then, if you really want to kind of geek out like we do and actually read the actual standard there’s a link there to the Federal Register.

198
00:36:27.390 –> 00:36:38.580
Sheri Heller: For the coven 19 vaccination in testing ETS alright so we’ve gotten a number of questions in gen, so why don’t we hop in and start answering some of those.

199
00:36:43.950 –> 00:36:45.540
Jen Serei: i’m sorry I was still on mute.

200
00:36:46.740 –> 00:36:48.660
Jen Serei: I was saying, it looks like people have been.

201
00:36:49.800 –> 00:36:57.720
Jen Serei: Using both the chat in the q&a so which I believe we use the Q amp a correct.

202
00:36:57.990 –> 00:37:03.720
Sheri Heller: yeah but then we’ll go we’ll go to the Q amp a and then we’ll we’ll hit the chat to see if there’s anything that we haven’t covered.

203
00:37:04.140 –> 00:37:06.660
Jen Serei: Okay perfect and I just happened to see one.

204
00:37:08.700 –> 00:37:16.620
Jen Serei: Question pop up now i’m not sure if it was in the chat but someone was asking about the the mask well Carmen if.

205
00:37:17.190 –> 00:37:22.500
Jen Serei: That was just for unvaccinated employees or if that was for all employees so.

206
00:37:23.310 –> 00:37:33.390
Jen Serei: The requirement to wear a mask is for just for the unvaccinated employees, but employers shouldn’t you know prevent vaccinated employees from wearing a mask if they would like to do so.

207
00:37:34.380 –> 00:37:42.390
Jen Serei: So it certainly doesn’t help to re, especially if your business where maybe you have the public coming in right and they might be comfortable wearing masks.

208
00:37:42.900 –> 00:37:52.830
Jen Serei: Certainly don’t want to put any messaging out that no one should not shouldn’t be wearing masks, but it is only required for on vaccinated employees.

209
00:37:53.280 –> 00:37:53.490
Sheri Heller: yeah.

210
00:37:53.520 –> 00:38:09.900
Sheri Heller: And so, instead of one consideration with that is that once this goes into effect, and you are determining your which employees aren’t are not fully vaccinated i’m having only unvaccinated employees wearing a mask need be.

211
00:38:10.380 –> 00:38:17.010
Sheri Heller: A little bit problematic in some workplaces, where you are interacting with customers let’s say in a restaurant or in a retail environment.

212
00:38:17.640 –> 00:38:25.950
Sheri Heller: Where you know you get into a restaurant and one person has a mask on and another person doesn’t and a customer says hey I don’t want I don’t want them waiting on me because.

213
00:38:26.190 –> 00:38:38.850
Sheri Heller: Obviously they’re not vaccinated so you might consider in there’s nothing wrong with requiring your employees to wear mass effect under the ETS I know a lot of states have actually put bands on.

214
00:38:39.660 –> 00:38:46.290
Sheri Heller: On cities or employers requiring mass but under the ETS it actually.

215
00:38:46.710 –> 00:38:56.490
Sheri Heller: overrides those bands, so if you as an employer decide and there’s a lot of major employers, I know i’ve seen in target and trader joe’s and some other places that I go to regularly.

216
00:38:56.730 –> 00:39:07.680
Sheri Heller: That all employees are wearing masks, and that is the direction of the employer, so it is absolutely acceptable for you to do that, and you may want to do that if you’ve got a lot of customer facing employees.

217
00:39:08.970 –> 00:39:18.540
Sheri Heller: Alright, so the next question one of the other questions we got is what about remote workforces are they exempt from the ETS requirements and at what point did it become part of it.

218
00:39:18.960 –> 00:39:28.470
Sheri Heller: So yes, they are they do have to fall under that etfs requirement one you’re going to count them as part of your workforce, even if they are not in the workplace.

219
00:39:29.070 –> 00:39:36.150
Sheri Heller: And then, as far as as far as being exempt from the requirement they’re exempt from having to.

220
00:39:36.690 –> 00:39:44.340
Sheri Heller: be tested weekly or two where face coverings while they’re not in the office, but they do have to provide proof of vaccination status.

221
00:39:45.330 –> 00:39:57.450
Sheri Heller: And then, if they are going to be coming into the workplace periodically like we discussed earlier, they would have to have a negative negative covert test within seven days prior to coming into the workplace.

222
00:39:59.580 –> 00:39:59.940
All right.

223
00:40:01.290 –> 00:40:03.870
Jen Serei: sherry actually I was curious about I.

224
00:40:04.890 –> 00:40:08.790
Jen Serei: don’t know if I saw that the specifics of this but wondering if you saw when you were looking at.

225
00:40:10.440 –> 00:40:23.220
Jen Serei: prefer vaccination when employers are you know collecting that proof of vaccination for the vaccine card should they be capturing the information on both the front and the back of the card.

226
00:40:24.300 –> 00:40:35.250
Sheri Heller: You know I didn’t see anything specific to that the the believe the front of the card has the vaccination all the vaccination information that you need.

227
00:40:36.540 –> 00:40:40.440
Jen Serei: I know I was almost let me check my card, and since i’m not sure what’s on the back.

228
00:40:41.520 –> 00:40:42.840
Sheri Heller: i’m actually doing that right now.

229
00:40:44.880 –> 00:40:53.880
Sheri Heller: i’m actually doing that, right now, yes, no, it would probably be just the front of the card i’m looking at my card as we speak, and it does show everything you need to know on the front of the card.

230
00:40:54.300 –> 00:41:05.070
Sheri Heller: Your name the the type of vaccine you got the date you got it and who administered it on the back of the card is only for your follow up appointment, so I just I believe you only need the front of the card.

231
00:41:05.370 –> 00:41:14.400
Sheri Heller: And you can you can as an employer to to get proof, you can just get a copy of the card you don’t have to see the original card necessarily right that’s great.

232
00:41:14.430 –> 00:41:23.400
Jen Serei: yeah so For those of you who know I nine that’s different from you know I nine documentation we’re so used to telling folks you need to say that see the original card, so that it is nice, in this case you don’t have to do that.

233
00:41:23.850 –> 00:41:33.900
Sheri Heller: Exactly, and you can also so For those of you who are MP clients and us, I saw you can actually have employees just upload them to the.

234
00:41:34.320 –> 00:41:43.590
Sheri Heller: Employee self service site which is really a nice easy way to do that, so any of you who want to set that up, you can reach out to your account manager account coordinator for that.

235
00:41:44.220 –> 00:41:48.060
Jen Serei: Absolutely, I just wanted to provide some clarification someone had a question about.

236
00:41:49.980 –> 00:41:59.550
Jen Serei: You know, employee accounts, but maybe spread out so it looks like someone has 100 employees, but they’re broken into five stores with 20 employees per store, so the.

237
00:41:59.850 –> 00:42:14.850
Jen Serei: it’s not by individual work location it’s company wide So if you do have 100 employees, but they are in broken up into five different stores, if you hadn’t 100 employees as of November 5, then you would fall within the ETS.

238
00:42:15.720 –> 00:42:24.990
Sheri Heller: it’s not necessarily just fight yeah so, for example in this is, this is a really dope OSHA falls under the Department of Labor.

239
00:42:25.350 –> 00:42:32.850
Sheri Heller: And the way the Department of Labor looks at it, is that, even if you have multiple aim so let’s say that you have three restaurants.

240
00:42:33.090 –> 00:42:45.510
Sheri Heller: All three restaurants are different, he is they might even have different ownership structures, but if they have common management and they share employees or even if they don’t share in place by have common management.

241
00:42:46.260 –> 00:42:51.570
Sheri Heller: The Department of Labor would consider them one entity for the purpose of.

242
00:42:52.140 –> 00:43:00.870
Sheri Heller: Most of their got most of their regulations so i’m assuming again, this is not a definitive yet, but i’m assuming that they would do so.

243
00:43:01.350 –> 00:43:14.160
Sheri Heller: In this case as well, so it is, it is really important to make sure that you are determining you’re counting everybody in in in that, regardless of the location, it should be company wide.

244
00:43:15.870 –> 00:43:29.040
Sheri Heller: All right, my company is a staffing firm, can we ask potential candidates before they have an offer what their vaccinations statuses and, if so, where can we document their answer So yes, according to the.

245
00:43:29.490 –> 00:43:44.430
Sheri Heller: The faq you can make vaccination status, a vaccine being fully vaccinated a condition of employment again always making sure that you’re making those reasonable accommodations as we discussed earlier but.

246
00:43:45.270 –> 00:43:55.290
Sheri Heller: Excuse me, and as far as where you can document it that’s really good that’s really going to be dependent on what kind of systems, you use in It may be that.

247
00:43:55.830 –> 00:44:04.230
Sheri Heller: You you can document that right on an application, possibly, but you definitely can ask them if they have been vaccinated.

248
00:44:04.470 –> 00:44:15.570
Sheri Heller: Now I know a lot of people think it’s a violation of hipaa hipaa really only applies to medical providers health care providers, it does not apply to private employers.

249
00:44:16.200 –> 00:44:23.400
Sheri Heller: But what does apply, is that you can’t be asking people about their medical conditions, so you can ask somebody have you.

250
00:44:23.610 –> 00:44:33.990
Sheri Heller: been vaccinated or not, that is not a medical question, but then to ask them why they have not been vaccinated that could lead you down a very, very scary path so.

251
00:44:34.320 –> 00:44:38.280
Sheri Heller: Just be very cautious about that it’s just a simple answer yes or no.

252
00:44:38.700 –> 00:44:47.280
Sheri Heller: You can actually ask them if they plan to get vaccinated you could also let them know and it may be a good idea, again, this is if and when the ETS goes into effect.

253
00:44:47.580 –> 00:45:02.490
Sheri Heller: If you are going to have a mandatory vaccine policy, it might be a good idea, even in your when you’re advertising for positions to state that you do require vaccination as a condition of employment, with the exception of any reasonable accommodations.

254
00:45:05.370 –> 00:45:14.940
Jen Serei: I see a couple questions just asking for some clarification about pto and when an employee has to use your own pto versus.

255
00:45:16.020 –> 00:45:26.850
Jen Serei: Not so just to clarify again up to four hours of paid time off should be given to a place for that primary vaccination dose and then reasonable, you know.

256
00:45:27.270 –> 00:45:43.650
Jen Serei: Time to recover from side effects two days you can’t require use of pto for each primary vaccination dose, but you can have an employee use their accrued sick time to keep the pto to recover from side effects and then sherry I.

257
00:45:44.790 –> 00:45:56.850
Jen Serei: don’t know if you saw this one, I thought was good question to what about if they have to be medically removed from the workplace is outlined in the OSHA ETS guidance, did you see any clarification there.

258
00:45:57.330 –> 00:46:02.820
Sheri Heller: I didn’t know I did not see I didn’t see something in there you’re not required to pay them if they’re removed from the workplace.

259
00:46:03.060 –> 00:46:07.800
Sheri Heller: Now, keep in mind that let’s say somebody comes in for testing i’m sorry you’re doing testing at the workplace.

260
00:46:08.250 –> 00:46:24.900
Sheri Heller: I come in, you give me my code to test a test positive and you need to remove me from the workplace i’ve shown up to work so every most states have a reporting time law so here in Massachusetts it’s two hours two hours two hours.

261
00:46:25.230 –> 00:46:26.070
Sheri Heller: Three hours.

262
00:46:26.220 –> 00:46:27.450
Sheri Heller: or three hours i’m trying to Hampshire.

263
00:46:27.450 –> 00:46:28.770
Sheri Heller: several hours, thank you.

264
00:46:30.570 –> 00:46:48.840
Sheri Heller: yep so if they come into work and they’ve reported to work and you’re sending them home you just have to pay that reporting reporting paid time The other thing is, it does specify in that faq that that so for for the four hours of sick time.

265
00:46:50.040 –> 00:46:58.890
Sheri Heller: To get the to get your primary vaccination dose that you can’t require them to use ticker pto for recovering.

266
00:46:59.580 –> 00:47:13.440
Sheri Heller: You can read from side effects, you can but it specifies in there when it says pto it says pto that includes sick time so some employers call vacation time pto and still have separate sick time.

267
00:47:13.680 –> 00:47:21.750
Sheri Heller: And that pto would not you could not require employees to use, but if you’re if you have pto which includes your sick and vacation.

268
00:47:21.810 –> 00:47:33.240
Sheri Heller: time you can and then again it is also going in may also depend on State law, because a lot of states that have mandatory sick time laws.

269
00:47:33.900 –> 00:47:48.300
Sheri Heller: may have some conditions in the sick time laws that prevent you from record requiring them to use them, so this is really going to be a little bit tricky State to State just it’s just going to be you’re always err on the side of caution when you’re determining how to pay them.

270
00:47:49.110 –> 00:48:12.450
Sheri Heller: Okay, all right So what if they are over the road if they are an over the road truck driver does the vaccination apply So yes, as in as in if you are going to be when you’re when you’re asking them, you do have to get their vaccination status, and they do, they don’t they do have to be.

271
00:48:13.920 –> 00:48:18.960
Sheri Heller: Have weekly testing and because i’m assuming that they’re going to be interacting with other people as well.

272
00:48:19.530 –> 00:48:23.700
Sheri Heller: And then they may have somebody else in the truck so if there’s somebody else in the truck with them.

273
00:48:24.270 –> 00:48:34.980
Sheri Heller: That might change that might change the requirements so if they do have somebody in the truck with them, they may have to both wear a mask and have weekly testing so it’s really going to depend on their interaction.

274
00:48:35.670 –> 00:48:38.910
Sheri Heller: you’ll once they’re when they’re driving who’s in the chocolate them all that.

275
00:48:41.430 –> 00:48:46.350
Jen Serei: there’s so many questions i’m just trying to make sure we’re getting a good variety we’re answering good variety between yeah.

276
00:48:47.040 –> 00:48:55.950
Sheri Heller: yeah I like this one, do you have any best practices for determining such validating sincerely held beliefs for reasonable accommodation Judo religion.

277
00:48:56.340 –> 00:49:17.160
Sheri Heller: And this, this does get very tricky so I have to say that it’s you you don’t want to necessarily question whether their their religious beliefs are sincerely held now if you have somebody who you know says, I have sincerely held religious beliefs, but you know doesn’t really.

278
00:49:18.240 –> 00:49:27.840
Sheri Heller: But has never called that into question before and doesn’t really use that for any other reason accommodation, you may question, but as a best practice.

279
00:49:28.110 –> 00:49:42.480
Sheri Heller: It is really not a good idea to really question whether they’re sincerely held, but what you can do is ask them what about their religious beliefs prevents them from either getting a vaccine or being tested.

280
00:49:43.410 –> 00:49:56.490
Sheri Heller: And then, if they do have if they can point to something that does, then you can find out what sort of accommodation that they are looking for, but to question whether their beliefs are sincerely held is probably not a good idea.

281
00:49:58.200 –> 00:49:58.680
Okay.

282
00:49:59.940 –> 00:50:08.100
Jen Serei: sherry, I was just trying to check this quickly, but maybe you know offhand comment or sit the slide deck said.

283
00:50:09.810 –> 00:50:20.190
Jen Serei: For the violations, it was 13,653 per violation then thought, maybe, but discussion quoted per employee, could we can confirm.

284
00:50:20.790 –> 00:50:28.170
Sheri Heller: it’s going to it’s going to depend on how it so any any any of you have ever been to a department of Labor audit.

285
00:50:28.530 –> 00:50:41.970
Sheri Heller: What happens is, is it really depends on the auditor who’s there, and if they determine that you are making a good faith effort as an employer to comply in this is just in let’s say.

286
00:50:42.510 –> 00:50:53.880
Sheri Heller: You haven’t captured all of your testing for every single employee, they may decide, and this is really at the discretion of OSHA that might decide you’re only going to get a one violation, but if.

287
00:50:54.150 –> 00:51:06.270
Sheri Heller: They come in and they see that you have just willfully not complied or let’s say, for example, you have allowed half of your workforce to just do a an employee at a station.

288
00:51:06.780 –> 00:51:16.500
Sheri Heller: And not require them to provide actual proof, they can look at that as an egregious failure to comply and that’s when they might determine that that.

289
00:51:16.740 –> 00:51:27.300
Sheri Heller: That that penalty gets assessed to every employee so that’s going to be conditional based on how OSHA determines how also determines that so we can’t tell you.

290
00:51:27.990 –> 00:51:35.220
Sheri Heller: You know how you’re going to be fine it really just depends on the situation i’ve been through a numerous department of Labor audits with clients.

291
00:51:35.550 –> 00:51:43.590
Sheri Heller: And you know what i’ve seen is that you know when they see that you’re making a good faith, effort and you’ve just made mistakes here and there, the penalties are much less.

292
00:51:43.800 –> 00:51:53.850
Sheri Heller: than employers who have just really disregarded any kind of regulations so it’s really going to depend on your your attempt at complying with the ETS.

293
00:51:55.980 –> 00:52:00.600
Jen Serei: effect and i’m also seeing a lot of questions sherry, people are asking about the booster shot.

294
00:52:01.860 –> 00:52:04.950
Jen Serei: And if this is kind of part of the ETS.

295
00:52:05.370 –> 00:52:09.570
Sheri Heller: know the booster shot is not part of the ETS only the primary doses.

296
00:52:10.260 –> 00:52:21.120
Sheri Heller: In that and again this this I mean I would imagine this could possibly change so let’s say, for example, the Federal appeals court decides to lift the stay and this goes into effect.

297
00:52:21.630 –> 00:52:25.020
Sheri Heller: From all the things you’ve been hearing from the medical.

298
00:52:25.380 –> 00:52:31.590
Sheri Heller: Community from the scientific community about the efficacy of the vaccines, if at some point.

299
00:52:31.770 –> 00:52:44.190
Sheri Heller: They determine that a booster is going to be necessary for everybody that could change this, but for right now it’s only the primary doses again the two doses of Madonna or Pfizer or.

300
00:52:44.580 –> 00:52:57.990
Sheri Heller: The one dose of the Johnson and Johnson the booster shot does not come into play, not required nor do you have to provide them any time off for getting the booster or for recovering from any side effects on the booster.

301
00:52:59.940 –> 00:53:00.300
Jen Serei: Great.

302
00:53:00.420 –> 00:53:07.800
Sheri Heller: All right does the adaptation, need to be notarized to be legally binding, no, it does not, but it does need to.

303
00:53:08.340 –> 00:53:21.780
Sheri Heller: does need to have a statement there that the employee understands that providing false information could result in penalties so i’m assuming that they’ll probably put out a sample form at some point.

304
00:53:22.440 –> 00:53:31.920
Sheri Heller: But right now, you just want to make sure that that at a station has all of the required language that is in the faq.

305
00:53:34.800 –> 00:53:44.190
Jen Serei: And I can’t remember if we said this at the beginning of the presentation amy probably did, but just because i’ve also seen questions folks asking if they’ll still have access to this after the end of the zoom.

306
00:53:45.600 –> 00:53:53.460
Jen Serei: presentation, yes, everyone who registers for our webinars will get a copy of the recorded presentation and the slides.

307
00:53:55.440 –> 00:54:02.130
Sheri Heller: So good question how could testing conflict with religious beliefs, I can’t point to what specific religion.

308
00:54:03.030 –> 00:54:10.680
Sheri Heller: Personally, but there may be religious beliefs that do not allow somebody to have medical testing or have any kind of.

309
00:54:11.160 –> 00:54:23.790
Sheri Heller: medical attention, so it is possible, this is where you would ask the employer, you really the point to where in their religion, it states that they cannot have testing, or they cannot be vaccinated.

310
00:54:24.870 –> 00:54:30.630
Sheri Heller: But, excuse me, I couldn’t tell you exactly which religions would would state that.

311
00:54:31.860 –> 00:54:32.100
Right.

312
00:54:33.720 –> 00:54:35.280
Jen Serei: Someone was asking if.

313
00:54:36.900 –> 00:54:38.130
Jen Serei: If they could use.

314
00:54:39.300 –> 00:54:44.850
Jen Serei: The acknowledged feature, I think there and I solved would be sufficient for a test station if they wanted to.

315
00:54:46.650 –> 00:54:48.300
Jen Serei: Use employee self service.

316
00:54:50.460 –> 00:54:50.670
Jen Serei: I.

317
00:54:50.970 –> 00:54:52.080
Sheri Heller: don’t I don’t see why not.

318
00:54:52.320 –> 00:55:06.540
Sheri Heller: yeah I don’t see why not, because we can create we could create a form or the employer can create a forum, and then we can upload it and then have employee it have the employee electronically sign it, so I yeah I don’t see why not.

319
00:55:07.050 –> 00:55:07.500
Jen Serei: yeah um.

320
00:55:07.530 –> 00:55:20.010
Sheri Heller: The other thing for those of you who are empty clients, we can also set up miscellaneous fields, so that you’ll be able to track who’s fully vaccinated partially vaccinated or not vaccinated for the other two reasons, and then, if you were.

321
00:55:20.370 –> 00:55:28.230
Sheri Heller: Requests if you had to produce that information you could just run a quick report so again just reach out to your account manager or account coordinator.

322
00:55:30.030 –> 00:55:37.740
Sheri Heller: He has a question about rapid tests are they acceptable for the weekly testing, yes, but only those that have been approved under the.

323
00:55:38.520 –> 00:55:50.040
Sheri Heller: emergent that under an emergency you thought us authorization, so I didn’t come out very easily or have been approved by the FDA so not all of those rapid tests that you combine the drugstore would.

324
00:55:50.640 –> 00:56:00.060
Sheri Heller: would be acceptable, so you just have to determine which ones are approved under either of those two the the way or where the FDA.

325
00:56:01.500 –> 00:56:12.840
Jen Serei: Okay, someone is wondering if we’ve heard if there any plans to mandate vaccination for businesses with less than 100 employees, I haven’t heard anything, have you sherry.

326
00:56:13.800 –> 00:56:18.120
Sheri Heller: No, not yet not yet they are considering that, but nothing has yet.

327
00:56:20.520 –> 00:56:26.880
Sheri Heller: Eligibility question we have less than 100 employees, but in a building with several companies, the total amount of people.

328
00:56:27.330 –> 00:56:35.190
Sheri Heller: In the building is over 100 does the landlord have to do anything for common areas elevators restaurants, etc i’m not under this standard.

329
00:56:35.550 –> 00:56:43.200
Sheri Heller: Not under the standard, they do not, and that actually brings up another good question, because one of the things that I know I i’ve been on a couple of.

330
00:56:43.860 –> 00:56:50.640
Sheri Heller: Legal webinars regarding this, and one thing that comes up for those of you who are in the construction industry.

331
00:56:51.600 –> 00:56:57.330
Sheri Heller: It let’s say you’re a general contractor and you have subs subcontractors that you hire in.

332
00:56:57.930 –> 00:57:09.810
Sheri Heller: To do let’s say electrical work plumbing work etc um you only have to be responsible for your own employees in your subcontractor would be responsible for their own employees, so if.

333
00:57:10.260 –> 00:57:20.940
Sheri Heller: If you have let’s say 20 employees and your subcontractor has 100 employees, you would not have to you would not fall under the CTS but your subcontractor May.

334
00:57:21.630 –> 00:57:34.410
Sheri Heller: So it’s not it’s really who is your employee and the same thing goes for again anybody who’s using employees from a staffing agency so if you’re paying a temporary employee directly.

335
00:57:35.160 –> 00:57:49.140
Sheri Heller: Then they are your employee account under this hundred person 100 headcount threshold, but if they are being paid through the staffing agency you don’t count them as part of your workforce.

336
00:57:50.910 –> 00:57:52.050
Sheri Heller: What are your questions here.

337
00:57:52.380 –> 00:57:54.630
Jen Serei: yeah yeah and there’s a question about.

338
00:57:56.700 –> 00:58:09.510
Jen Serei: Who who can be kind of be the person to observe another employee testing so wondering if there’s any sort of privacy violation if a non HR employees, the only person available to observe another employee testing now I kind of.

339
00:58:10.560 –> 00:58:15.420
Jen Serei: towards the beginning of the pandemic I when there was more you know testing and.

340
00:58:16.590 –> 00:58:23.670
Jen Serei: temperature checking and everything happening, a lot of times my clients would have a designated manager doing these.

341
00:58:24.390 –> 00:58:31.140
Jen Serei: types of checks and you know I think that’s fine I don’t think it has to be some businesses don’t have.

342
00:58:31.830 –> 00:58:43.380
Jen Serei: An internal HR person so it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to have an HR person necessarily in all cases, but I think you can have a manager do it, and that would be appropriate as well, what do you think sherry.

343
00:58:43.530 –> 00:58:50.490
Sheri Heller: yeah I would agree in there, there is not there’s no specific guidance on that currently.

344
00:58:50.970 –> 00:59:03.990
Sheri Heller: I would imagine that that might be a question that might come up under the Department of Labor updated guidance, so I would just kind of keep an eye out for that, but in the meantime, I agree with you john I would I would have somebody in management doing that for now.

345
00:59:06.150 –> 00:59:14.880
Sheri Heller: here’s another good question how do we determine if a medical exemption is valid do we say, as long as the doctor signs off on the exemption form will we accept that so.

346
00:59:15.300 –> 00:59:22.890
Sheri Heller: that’s a good question so first off again you don’t want to ask for anybody’s personal medical information, but if they’re requesting a medical exemption.

347
00:59:23.700 –> 00:59:35.520
Sheri Heller: let’s say they need to delay vaccination because of medical situation, maybe somebody undergoing some sort of treatment and their doctor advises them to hold off on getting the vaccine.

348
00:59:36.060 –> 00:59:47.640
Sheri Heller: At the beginning, a lot of Ob gyn where we’re recommending that pregnant women hold off that that guidance has changed, but you know if you’re if a doctor is recommending.

349
00:59:48.270 –> 00:59:58.920
Sheri Heller: That you for medical reasons hold off on getting the vaccine you just that’s the information you need and, yes, you can require you can request documentation from their medical provider.

350
00:59:59.520 –> 01:00:09.840
Sheri Heller: That they are that they do to a medical condition you don’t want to know the condition you just not need to know that, due to a medical condition they are not able to take the vaccine at this time.

351
01:00:11.160 –> 01:00:14.640
Sheri Heller: But you don’t want to get into any anything deeper than that.

352
01:00:16.410 –> 01:00:27.270
Sheri Heller: Alright, we are coming up to the end of the hour here and we’ve gotten a ton of questions, I mean like a ton of questions, so I think what we’re going to do is.

353
01:00:28.050 –> 01:00:36.240
Sheri Heller: Probably won’t be until Monday or Tuesday, but we’ll put together an faq out of these questions and we will send this out to all attendees.

354
01:00:36.480 –> 01:00:43.500
Sheri Heller: Because there’s a ton of there’s really a lot of really great questions in here, mostly really situational which I think is very helpful.

355
01:00:43.740 –> 01:01:01.740
Sheri Heller: And I do encourage you all to go to that faq on the on OSHA website, it really is extremely informative and written it very in very direct language it’s not ambiguous at all, so I do recommend that and with that i’m going to turn you back over to amy to take us home.

356
01:01:02.490 –> 01:01:08.580
MP: Thank you so much sherry Jen lots of fantastic information very timely timely information on the webinar today.

357
01:01:09.000 –> 01:01:17.700
MP: And please join us next week same day and time for a webinar outlining best practices for training and development be focusing on engaging employees and remote and hybrid.

358
01:01:18.180 –> 01:01:24.480
MP: work environment, as well as valuable information on how to access the many trainings and grants that are available to employers.

359
01:01:24.840 –> 01:01:29.670
MP: Just visit our website to register and see the full calendar of upcoming events and available resources.

360
01:01:29.970 –> 01:01:44.640
MP: We have lots of ebooks and checklists and everything you need, and lastly MP, has a full team of HR and recruiting experts here ready to assist you with any of your hcm business means thanks again for joining us today and have a terrific rest of your day.