Explainer: How will Biden’s vaccine mandate impact workers, companies?

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden announced new mandates Thursday to encourage syringes in Americans not vaccinated against COVID-19. The measures apply to more than 100 million workers, but it is not known how many of them are already vaccinated.

Here’s a look at what the measures will and won’t do:

WHO COVERS IT?

That would cover an estimated four million federal employees and workers on government contracts.

In addition, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OSHA) will be enacting a regulation in the coming weeks that uses an emergency authority to oblige employers with more than 100 employees to ensure that their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly. That would affect around 80 million private sector workers.

OSHA said the new temporary emergency standard will also “apply to public sector workers and local government workers, including educators and school staff, in the 26 states and two territories with an OSHA state plan.”

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will also enact a rule mandating vaccinations for employees in most healthcare facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including hospitals, dialysis centers, outpatient surgical facilities and home nursing agencies – approximately 17 million health care workers. It is estimated that more than half of them – 64% of hospital staff, 62.7% of nursing home staff and 54.7% of dialysis facility workers – are already vaccinated.

HOW LONG DO EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYERS HAVE TO STOP?

Federal employees have about 75 days to get vaccinated, the White House said.

For employees in the health sector, the CMS will issue a so-called provisional final regulation in mid-October, which will come into force immediately after the official publication.

The agency has urged all workers who are not currently vaccinated to start the procedure immediately.

The clock for private sector workers won’t start ticking until the Department of Labor actually issues its rule, which is expected in the coming weeks. After that, they likely have 50 to 90 days to comply, officials said.

ARE THERE EXCEPTIONS?

The federal staff mandate includes “limited exemptions for legally recognized reasons such as disability or religious objections,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Title VII of the United States Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against employees based on “a person’s race, color, religion, gender, or national origin”. A very small number of religious groups in the United States have theological objections to vaccines which they say harm Divine Providence.

The vaccines are not recommended for people with allergies to certain ingredients.

WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE?

Federal employees who refuse to get vaccinated are advised first and eventually face dismissal if they continue to refuse.

Companies that do not follow the rule can be fined nearly $ 14,000 per violation.

It’s not immediately clear how the CMS can enforce compliance, but the agency has the power to terminate agreements with companies that violate their regulations.

Reporting by Heather Timmons, David Shepardson, Jeff Mason and Ahmed Aboulen, editing by Sonya Hepinstall