General News
Published November 16, 2021
Rules for employers with 100+ employees released Nov 4, 2021
In July 2021, the White House released a COVID-19 mandate for all employers with 100+ employees. The emergency temporary standard (ETS) was released November 4 and outlines the requirements an employer needs to follow, including who is covered, what is covered, and the documentation requirements.
The ETS requires employers to do the following:
- Determine the vaccination status of each employee, obtain acceptable proof of vaccination status from vaccinated employees, and maintain records and a roster of each employee's vaccination status.
- Ensure each worker who is not fully vaccinated is tested for COVID-19 at least weekly and maintain documentation of the test results.
- Ensure that, in most circumstances, each employee who has not been fully vaccinated wears a face covering when indoors or when occupying a vehicle with another person for work purposes.
- The emergency temporary standard does not require employers to pay for testing.
At this time, it doesn’t appear that Premera as a health plan has any additional requirements to meet this mandate. For additional information on what’s covered under your health plan regarding vaccine coverage and COVID-19 testing, check out our COVID-19 FAQ for employers.
Premera cannot provide any legal advice on compliance with this ruling. We encourage you to work with your own counsel on how best to implement these requirements.
You can read the ruling here - 2021-23643.pdf (federalregister.gov).