Biden’s Vaccine Rule Is Here and Half of Employers Aren’t Ready

(Bloomberg) -- The clock is now ticking for many private employers to set up Covid-19 vaccination and testing programs, but companies aren’t anywhere close to being prepared.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration released guidelines Thursday that follow through on the plan President Joe Biden announced two months ago to use employer mandates to drive up vaccination totals. While the rules should come as no surprise, only half of companies have relayed the implications of the federal policy to employees, a new survey from Gartner Inc. found, and more than half are unsure of how they plan to manage weekly employee testing. One in five companies simply haven’t done anything yet. 

Business leaders expect 6.4% of employees, on average, to leave due to vaccine requirements, and nearly three-quarters expect some sort of resistance from workers in regard to the federal rules. Since Gartner last surveyed employers in September, opinions have hardened somewhat in favor of firing or punishing workers who refuse the vaccine.

OSHA’s emergency temporary standard mandates that workers at U.S. companies with 100 or more employees be fully vaccinated by Jan. 4 or submit to testing, and it follows earlier mandates for health-care workers and federal contractors. Attorneys general from several Republican states have vowed to sue in an effort to block the initiative.

Read more: What’s in the Biden Administration’s Covid Shot-or-Test Rule

The emergency standard, which OSHA justified by citing the “grave danger” posed by the lingering Coronavirus pandemic, requires covered employers to develop, implement and enforce a mandatory Covid-19 vaccination policy or require employees to undergo regular testing and wear a face covering at work.  

How those tests will be implemented, paid for and submitted to federal authorities is still being hashed out, the Gartner survey found, despite companies knowing for two months that some testing regiment would be required. More than half of companies told Gartner they’re still working on how to manage the process, while one-quarter said they wouldn’t provide or facilitate tests for employees. A smaller percentage said they would provide rapid or PCR tests either on site, or by mail. 

No matter how the testing works, vaccine-hesitant employees won’t like it, according to Rachel Conn, an employment lawyer and partner at law firm Nixon Peabody LLP.

“I have clients who have employees who are unhappy about testing, period -- regardless of whether they have to pay for it,” Conn said. “Testing is expensive, especially if you’re making minimum wage and have to buy a test every week.”

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