The status of the COVID-19 vaccine mandates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) vaccine mandates continue to evolve with extensive ongoing litigation and policy adjustments by the respective federal agencies. NAHC’s outside employment law counsel, Polsinelli, has prepared a detailed memorandum setting forth the status of the mandate rules and policy.
It looks like that the ultimate outcome will lie in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court in the near term. The Court has ordered expedited briefing on the emergency petitions pending before the Court following several Court of Appeals rulings. That generally means we may see some preliminary decisions from the Court early in 2022.
Meanwhile, NAHC continues to advise members to be prepared for implementation and enforcement of the CMS and OSHA requirements, although holding off on termination or suspension of staff that are not compliant. Also, it is essential that you keep in mind state and local requirements relative to a vaccine mandate or other infection control measures.
We urge you to read the entire memo.
From Polsinelli
Authors: Angelo Spinola & Will Vail
On November 4, 2021, the Biden Administration made three vaccine mandate announcements. Since then, there has been robust litigation bringing these mandates into question. This updated memo will detail these announcements, offer ideas on how to determine their impact (if any) on your business and tell you about some solutions we have created.
One of the announcements came from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It announced a new Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that gives “large” employers the option of requiring vaccinations or allowing employees to test weekly for COVID-19. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also simultaneously issued an Interim Final Rule that requires covered providers to implement a mandatory vaccination policy for “staff” to keep safe those who are receiving care. And finally, the Biden Administration pushed back the compliance date for federal contractors to January 18, 2022 (meaning the second of two shots would need to be administered by January 4, 2022).