The White House released a Fact Sheet on November 4, 2021, aimed at covered federal contractors announcing they now have until January 4, 2022 for their covered employees to obtain their final vaccination dose. Under Executive Order 14042 Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors and guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (see our previous article), covered contractors previously had until December 8, 2021 to have their covered workforce fully vaccinated or the first date of the period of performance for newly-awarded contracts. The White House announced this change so that the deadline for workers to receive vaccinations will be the same for the federal contractors, and employees subject to the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Rule aimed at employers with 100 or more employees, and the Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Rule. The OSHA and CMS Rules were both issued on November 4, 2021.
The White House, in its Fact Sheet, notes that standardizing the vaccination deadline will allow federal contractors that have workplaces that are subject to both the federal contractor order and the newly-released OSHA and CMS rules to comply with one deadline for their entire workforce.
The White House also clarified that the OSHA rule will not be applied to workplaces subject to the federal contractor requirement or CMS rule, so employers will not have to track multiple vaccination requirements for the same employees.
The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force has issued updated FAQs that address vaccination and safety protocols for federal contractors, as well as updated FAQs on what qualifies as a workplace under the Executive Order. We do expect further updates from the Task Force and will update this as necessary.
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