On August 13, 2021, OSHA issued updated guidance to better align with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s July 27, 2021 recommendations, given the rising cases of the COVID-19 Delta variant. The guidance’s purpose is to summarize the CDC’s “substantial or high transmission” guidance and assist employers in recognizing and abating COVID-19 hazards in the workplace. In the guidance’s preamble, OSHA “strongly encourages” employers to provide paid time off to workers for the time it takes to get vaccinated and recover from side effects, and to consider working with local public health authorities to provide vaccinations in the workplace. OSHA also suggests that employers “consider adopting policies that require workers to get vaccinated or to undergo regular COVID-19 testing – in addition to mask wearing and physical distancing – if they remain unvaccinated.”
By Alka Ramchandani-Raj and Karen Charlson via Littler