What Workers Need to Know About the Federal Vaccine Requirements

These new mandates are in addition to earlier requirements for federal executive branch employees and government contractors. Here’s what workers need to know about the federal vaccination requirements for employers.

Workers must be vaccinated by Feb. 9 or submit to weekly tests.

If you work for an employer that has 100 or more workers, you will need to be fully vaccinated with either two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by the Feb. 9 deadline. Although some state and local governments have issued or are pursuing laws that prohibit employers from mandating COVID-19 vaccinations, this new federal guidance from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) will preempt those regional policies, according to the White House. This vaccine requirement will apply to an estimated 84 million people.

The new federal policy does allow exemptions to the vaccine mandate for medical or religious reasons. But while, because of privacy policies, it’s unclear how many workers have requested religious exemptions from their employers, most requests and lawsuits seeking religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccination mandates so far have been denied.

If you decline to be vaccinated or test positive for COVID-19 after Feb. 9, your employer will be required to remove you from the workplace or face significant fines. If you are a remote worker, you may be exempt from the vaccination requirement, depending on your employer’s policies. The OSHA guidelines say such workers may be exempt because they do not interact with other people within a workplace.

There is another notable point in the federal requirement. Workers who opt to submit to weekly tests instead of getting vaccinated will have to pay for those tests themselves unless there is a collective bargaining agreement or local law that requires the employer to cover such costs. While there are free testing options in some communities, the price of a COVID-19 test can range from $24 for the over-the-counter quick-testing options available at pharmacies to the median price of $148 for a test at a hospital.

The federal policy also requires employers that fall under this regulation to pay workers for the time it takes them to get vaccinated and to provide paid sick leave to those who may need time to recover from the immediate side effects of the vaccination process.

Workers at Medicare and Medicaid facilities don’t get to choose testing instead.

Under the new requirement issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), all workers who treat or interact with patients at the 76,000 health care facilities nationwide that participate in those federal programs will have to get vaccinated by Jan. 27. These employees will not have the option of submitting to weekly tests instead.

This vaccination requirement applies to all workers regardless of whether they directly interact with patients. Workers who contract with these facilities will also be required to be vaccinated. All told, more than 17 million people will fall under this new CMS requirement, according to White House estimates.