by Sydney Buckley
With scientists worldwide racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, many employers are asking if they can require employees to be vaccinated. As with everything COVID-19, there are many open questions, but here are some of the major legal issues in considering mandatory vaccination policies.
Today, Virginia’s new and detailed COVID-19 regulation takes effect. The rule, an “emergency temporary standard” (ETS), was adopted July 15th by the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI). Unlike general guidance and recommendations issued by CDC and federal OSHA, the Virginia rule requires all employers regulated by DOLI to develop, implement, and enforce COVID-19 prevention and mitigation measures. Read on for a detailed summary of the rule’s requirements.
Our popular ACRI course for mine supervisors, executives, and managers to learn how to minimize MSHA liability is going virtual! Next month, Husch Blackwell is partnering once again with Predictive Compliance and Catamount Consulting to offer a two-day, intensive, live online course titled Alternative Case Resolution Initiative: Defending and Winning MSHA Litigation.
Though the mining industry uses about 90% of explosives in the United States, neither ATF’s regulations nor its personnel generally come from mining. Nonetheless, ATF and the mining industry generally have worked together well as partners. Issues do sometimes arise, however, such as recent ATF actions on underground explosives storage magazines.
The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is currently considering a request by mine worker unions to require MSHA to create an emergency COVID-19 regulation. The parties have all finished submitting their briefs and now await a ruling. Husch Blackwell’s mine safety and health team represented national industry associations in filing an amicus (“friend-of-the-court”) brief to describe industry protections against the virus.
After a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit rejected an AFL-CIO request for an order requiring an emergency OSHA COVID-19 regulation, the union has petitioned for re-hearing by the entire Court. The rehearing request is pending.
NIOSH and MSHA collaborated recently to publish more resources to mitigate miner exposure to COVID-19. The materials include a web page with guidance for staying healthy, as well as posters, all provided on both MSHA’s and the CDC’s web sites.
While many employers consider whether and how to use COVID-19 tests of different kinds to help clear employees to return to work, the EEOC has clarified that not all tests are created equal in its eyes. Our partner, Barbara Grandjean, reports on the latest EEOC guidance.
COVID-19 has hit small and medium-sized businesses, and even regional companies, especially hard. On top of losing customers, trying to make payroll and rent, and being squeezed on either end, they have fewer resources to become experts on how to keep their workers safe. Many feel that they simply do not have the time or money to analyze pages of federal and state guidance and prepare detailed return-to-work plans. But, it need not be this way. We’ve got a solution.
All bets are off as regulatory agencies are tugged in every direction in pandemic world. Normally, an election year probably would not have seen particularly aggressive enforcement or rulemaking. For a while, COVID-19 health precautions and furloughed work sites meant reduced inspection activity. But, enforcement may be picking up, and a battle over new regulations is brewing. Here’s your full update.