Breaking News! President Biden's September 9. 2021 Vaccine Mandate
We are sure that many of you heard that on September 9, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that the federal government will soon be imposing mandatory vaccination requirements on all private-sector US employers with 100 or more employees.
First and foremost, we want to stress that none of the following has taken on the force of law yet, nor do we expect it to take effect tomorrow, or even next week. Per President Biden’s speech, so far the Department of Labor (“DOL”) has only been instructed to “develop” an emergency rule. DOL has not yet actually released any rule, or even any proposed rule, pertaining to mandatory vaccinations. That means that, as you’re reading this announcement, you are not required to take any actions just yet. DOL has announced it intends to implement the President’s mandate “in the coming weeks.” Please note the reference to “weeks” and not “this week”. We anticipate the DOL releasing an emergency rule at some point before the end of September.
All of that is to say there is no need to panic. No matter what apocalyptic headlines have come across your newsfeed in the past several hours, we promise you that you can rest easy tonight. We will be monitoring this new development closely (read: obsessively) and updating you in real time with new developments the moment they become available. To that end, here is everything we know so far:
On September 9, President Biden announced that he has instructed the DOL to “develop an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees… to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.”
The “weekly testing” alternative is currently the “reasonable accommodation” available to employees with medical or religious exemptions from vaccinations. It seems DOL intends to formally codify this accommodation as the only alternative to vaccinations for employers with 100 or more employees.
In addition, this emergency rule will also contain provisions for “paid time off to get vaccinated or to recover from any side effects of getting vaccinated.”
DOL previously recommended granting employees up to a total 10 days off – across both doses of the vaccine – to receive and recover from any side effects of the vaccine. It seems DOL intends to codify this into law as well. Previously such PTO was required under the CARES Act with a healthy tax credit for employers, and through September 30, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act provides that employers who voluntarily provide COVID related wages will also receive a tax credit. In President Biden’s speech today, there was no mention of reimbursement for this particular mandate.
Penalties for failure to enforce this new mandate will be steep, with President Biden citing “up to $14,000.00 per violation.”
President Biden announced today that, “in the coming weeks,” the DOL will announce a new rule which will require all employers with 100 or more employees to require that their employees either be vaccinated against COVID-19, or subject themselves to weekly COVID-19 testing. This rule will include a provision for employees to receive paid time off for the vaccine itself, and for any associated side effects. The penalty for noncompliance will be steep, somewhere in the ballpark of $14,000 per violation.
As of tonight, that’s all the relevant information available so far, no matter what doomsday scenarios the headlines are currently peddling; anything further is pure speculation. You will hear from us the very instant we have verifiable new information that might impact you, your business, or your employees.
We also anticipate legal challenges to the mandate and will keep you apprised of those as well.
Please let us know if you have any questions, need a policy written, or a policy reviewed. We are here to help!