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We mandate PPE for all employees or office visitors unless they have a valid verifiable exemption. As already mentioned, this is no different from a company requiring hearing protection, face shields, ID badge, radiation monitors or any other health/safety/security piece of equipment. We have disposable mask available and provide them to any employee entering the building who needs one. Because it' a required piece of equipment, we feel it's the company's responsibility to provide the mandatory protective equipment.
We require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID as a condition of continued employment unless they have a valid and verifiable exemption. Employees who have made a personal choice to not be vaccinated are able to participate in the company's administrative process of canning the person. Since based on the latest legal decision that employer's can not withhold medical insurance or charge higher premiums for those who personally decided not be be vaccinated , we have decided termination is best for all concern. To date, we have had no employee refuse to wear a mask or to be vaccinated.
I know Delta was doing this - when did it get knocked down?
I think bolded is how things should be handled. No mandates, higher premiums. Fwiw I also think overweight people should pay higher premiums as well. The obesity epidemic has killed far more people than COVID.
As far as masks go, it’s all different here in Northeast Ohio. At our local health department you don’t have to wear masks, but go into our accountants office and you have to wear them. Seems strange.
I'm also in NE Ohio - but in 2021, I have covered pretty much the entire east coast repeatedly, and the inconsistency is consistent.
However - in this case, re: picky employers - the policy is, if you are not vaccinated, you should wear a mask indoors.
(I mean, that's the CDC policy, and therefore OSHA's by reference. I'm not a labor attorney, so may be some technicality and wiggle room there - but no employer wants to bother fighting it out. It's much easier to require masks, along with all the other PPE. Again, not saying right or wrong - just that it's the policy, and so it's what most places do.)
Your local health dept., SHOULD require masks INDOORS if you are not vaccinated. Probably there is a sign on the door to that effect. If a dept (say, the accountant's office) decides to be more "picky" - then they can insist on a mask too, but the degree of success will depend on the boss.
We have not fired anyone for not getting vaccinated - but we will not be hiring anyone who isn't. Simple reason, and it has nothing to do with "rights." We travel for a living here - and many of our clients will not allow you in the building without a vaccine - so - if you don't have it, you're no good to me.
We have some positions that do not travel - and those folks can survive here with no vaccine, but they have to wear a mask - and also - any time their kid / wife / parent / husband / girlfriend gets COVID - then that (unvaccinated) person is off work for 24 days, no pay. Yep. 24. * No pay. Some people have been through that 2 or 3 times, and will probably go through it many more. They've decided paying their rent is less important than the vaccine.
*This is based on the 10-14 day quarantine AFTER your last known contact with an infected person. If a person is infected on Day 1 - say, your kid - you cannot come to work at all until your kid is over it - say, 10 days. On that 10th day, that was your most recent close contact - now you can quarantine for 14 days. If you are out of PTO - then you are not getting paid. These are not our policies, but the CDC's, and, by reference, OSHA. ALL employers are doing this, or should be.
Independent of any government order, we were told we had to be fully vaccinated by mid-August or we'd be let go (barring medical reasons of course). That was in May, and at that time already 80% of staff was fully vaccinated. To my knowledge, no one had to be let go.
Everyone must wear a mask in common spaces, but you can choose to wear a mask if in a meeting of 4 or less people. If one person requests a mask, all have to be masked. Masks are not required in offices or cubicles.
Everyone is tested once a week. If we do miss a testing, it's a disciplinary issue. Prior to vaccinations, anyone who had to be in-person was tested twice a week or every 3 days, whichever made sense for their schedule. We publish our numbers daily on our website so anyone - employees, our students (who all must be vaccinated and are tested twice a week), and our community can see how we're doing. Thanks to our strict guidelines, we never had the mass outbreak that other colleges or even our local community had. Still, we had enough students get sick either on campus or at home that we had the highest number of accommodation requests ever for students to live on the first floor because previously healthy 18-22 year olds now are dealing with long COVID or other COVID side effects and struggle to climb stairs. Many of our dorms are older than the ADA and therefore haven't been retrofitted with elevators.
I know Delta was doing this - when did it get knocked down?
I think bolded is how things should be handled. No mandates, higher premiums. Fwiw I also think overweight people should pay higher premiums as well. The obesity epidemic has killed far more people than COVID.
from what my Admin Dir passed on to me, the CMS issued a ruling on employer sponsored health plans for those 65 and above (Medicare eligibility) that prevents any premium increase or converge limits between vaccinated and unvaccinated covered employees. Soon afterwards DOL under ERISA, ruled that plans can not prohibit converge based on vaccination status as that violated the equal converge requirement. And they added that since the EEOC said employers can terminate based on legitimate (and legally sufficient) company vaccination policy, that's the employer's recourse.
Now it should be noted that they do allow discounts from premiums based on vaccination status (employer can decide to increase their share of the premium based on a person being vaccinated) but can't raise rates for the unvaccinated at this time. They did leave open the possibility that when insurance companies have sufficient cost data of increase cost related to unvaccinated COVID care, like tobacco, an employer may be able to pass on the personal choice premium increase to the employee.
Right now it's too soon to have any COVID vaccination specific premium standards, so agencies are basing their rulings on current regulations. The one that holds the most weight was EEOC's ruling that if a company has a vaccination policy and an employee violates that vaccination policy, their termination is legit.
It's not about picky, it's about legality. If OSHA says it (via them adopting CDC policies) then the employer is obligated to enforce it - full stop.
Do you think safety glasses are personal choice? hardhats? Steel toe shoes? Gloves?
nope. no choice at all. OSHA says ya gotta wear 'em - and if you don't, you're jobless. Very simple.
Not saying mask is right or wrong - I'm saying, "picky" is the wrong question from the OP. It's basically the law, and that's that.
You know the OSHA vaccine mandate has been halted by a Federal judge, right? It's going to be a long legal battle and I don't think it will hold up in court.
I'm also in NE Ohio - but in 2021, I have covered pretty much the entire east coast repeatedly, and the inconsistency is consistent.
However - in this case, re: picky employers - the policy is, if you are not vaccinated, you should wear a mask indoors.
(I mean, that's the CDC policy, and therefore OSHA's by reference. I'm not a labor attorney, so may be some technicality and wiggle room there - but no employer wants to bother fighting it out. It's much easier to require masks, along with all the other PPE. Again, not saying right or wrong - just that it's the policy, and so it's what most places do.)
Your local health dept., SHOULD require masks INDOORS if you are not vaccinated. Probably there is a sign on the door to that effect. If a dept (say, the accountant's office) decides to be more "picky" - then they can insist on a mask too, but the degree of success will depend on the boss.
We have not fired anyone for not getting vaccinated - but we will not be hiring anyone who isn't. Simple reason, and it has nothing to do with "rights." We travel for a living here - and many of our clients will not allow you in the building without a vaccine - so - if you don't have it, you're no good to me.
We have some positions that do not travel - and those folks can survive here with no vaccine, but they have to wear a mask - and also - any time their kid / wife / parent / husband / girlfriend gets COVID - then that (unvaccinated) person is off work for 24 days, no pay. Yep. 24. * No pay. Some people have been through that 2 or 3 times, and will probably go through it many more. They've decided paying their rent is less important than the vaccine.
*This is based on the 10-14 day quarantine AFTER your last known contact with an infected person. If a person is infected on Day 1 - say, your kid - you cannot come to work at all until your kid is over it - say, 10 days. On that 10th day, that was your most recent close contact - now you can quarantine for 14 days. If you are out of PTO - then you are not getting paid. These are not our policies, but the CDC's, and, by reference, OSHA. ALL employers are doing this, or should be.
There was no sign on the door at my local health department about masks at all.
Is anyone still social distancing?
All I know is I don't get close to anyone without a mask.
I suppose if someone without a mask coughed or sneezed near all of you who are unvaccinated and/or unmasked you'd be OK with that? I do NOT mean INTENTIONALLY coughs on you. I mean the unexpected out of the blue cough or sneeze that we don't even know is coming. It DOES happen.
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