Private employers struggle to understand, scramble to comply with federal vaccine mandate

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Some local employers that would fall under President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate are taking a wait-and-see approach before requiring their workers to take the COVID-19 shots.

Lawton’s Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. issued a one-line statement about the mandate.

“We are evaluating the executive orders and assessing the impact, if any,” the statement read.

Southwest Medical Center spokeswoman Mary Towe released a similar comment.

“We agree that the vaccine is our best defense against this virus and have been strongly encouraging our team members to get vaccinated. Right now, we are working to understand the details of President Biden’s announcement about new federal COVID-19 vaccine requirements and the impact it will have on employees and providers at our facility,” she said via email.

Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce President Krista Ratliff said some smaller businesses have reached out to her office for guidance about the vaccine mandate.

“We’re letting them know it’s a personal choice for them,” she said.

Public Service Company of Oklahoma released a statement encouraging employees to get vaccinated, but said they are still waiting on the federal government to provide direction.

“We continue to focus on the health and safety of our employees and customers and have aligned our response to COVID-19 with guidance from state and federal health officials and our company doctor,” the statement reads. “We have strongly encouraged our employees to get vaccinated and have provided incentives to do so, but we are not currently requiring vaccines. We will be evaluating the Biden administration’s proposed rules to determine their impact on AEP.”

The AEP statement did not specify the incentives given to employees who are inoculated with the vaccine.

Large employers with 100 or more employees have 75 days to comply with the president’s mandate after the executive order is signed.

Biden’s executive order will require all employers with at least 100 employees to mandate that their workers be vaccinated against the virus or be subject to weekly COVID testing. The executive order would also require employers to give their employees paid time off to get vaccinated and recover from side effects associated with the vaccine.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration has been charged with developing an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that conforms to the president’s mandate. Although it’s unclear when the employer mandate will go into effect, OSHA is responsible for enforcing the ETS. OSHA’s penalty power includes the ability to issue fines of up to $14,000 per violation.

Questions remain about which employees the mandate applies to, who will pay for weekly testing and how vaccination records will be stored. The mandate will include exemptions for individuals who cannot receive a vaccine due to a disability or sincerely held religious beliefs.

The president’s private employer policy will impact about 80 million workers nationwide, or about two-thirds of the nation’s total workforce.