The new federal rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to mandate that their workers be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing takes effect on January 4, 2022.
Here are the wage and hour implications of the new rule, issued as an Emergency Temporary Standard by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA):
Under new 29 C.F.R. § 1910.501(f), covered employers must provide each employee a reasonable amount of paid time up to four hours (including travel time) for each of their primary vaccination dose(s), at the employee’s regular rate of pay. In addition, employers must provide employees with reasonable time and paid sick leave to recover from side effects experienced following any primary vaccination dose.
As the preamble explains:
Reasonable time may include, but is not limited to, time spent during work hours related to the vaccination appointment(s), such as registering, completing required paperwork, all time spent at the vaccination site (e.g., receiving the vaccination dose, post-vaccination monitoring by the vaccine provider), and time spent traveling to and from the location for vaccination (including travel to an off-site location (e.g., a pharmacy), or situations in which an employee working remotely (e.g., telework) or in an alternate location must travel to the workplace to receive the vaccine).
Employers are not, however, obligated by the rule to reimburse employees for transportation costs (e.g., gas money, train/bus fare,...
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