CAPLAW Webinar

The highly-anticipated OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandates have been issued.

Under the OSHA ETS, employers with 100 or more employees must ensure their workers are either fully vaccinated or are submitting negative COVID-19 tests at least once a week by January 4, 2022. The separate CMS vaccine mandate applies to all employees at health care facilities that receive federal funding from Medicare or Medicaid, and it also requires employees to be vaccinated by January 4, 2022. The CMS vaccine mandate does not give employees the option to test weekly in lieu of getting vaccinated.

CAPLAW recently issued a step-by-step compliance guide to help the Community Action network navigate the employee vaccination mandates announced by OSHA, Head Start, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). In this resource we describe the planning process your CAA should consider as you develop and update your policies to reflect the new requirements. We also provide two template policies to assist your CAA in complying with the new mandates: a mandatory vaccination policy and a policy requiring vaccinations or allowing employees to choose weekly COVID-19 testing and face coverings. In this webinar we discuss these essential resources, as well as the status of ongoing litigation challenging these mandates.

The Office of Head Start has released its long-awaited vaccination mandate (the Rule), which will be published as an interim final rule with comment period in the Federal Register on November 30, 2021. The Rule amends the Head Start Program Performance Standards to require masking for individuals aged two and older. It also requires vaccination for all Head Start staff, contractors whose activities involve contact with or providing direct services to children and families, and volunteers working in classrooms or directly with children.

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