Airport Alert: Additional Guidance on Vaccination Requirements for Federal Employees and Contractors Issued
September 16, 2021
On September 9, President Biden issued two Executive Orders (EO) that require federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated. The federal employee EO states that "it is necessary to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all Federal employees, subject to such exceptions required by law". The federal contractor EO builds off of the July 29 vaccine attestation Executive Order that required onsite contractors to be vaccinated or undertake other safety protocols, such as being tested regularly for COVID-19, wearing face masks, and social distancing.
Following the release of these EOs, President Biden directed the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force to develop vaccination guidance. This afternoon, the Task Force released new information on the vaccination requirements for federal employees, identified limited exceptions to the vaccination requirements, detailed enforcement actions, and described how vaccination plans should be handled with employee unions. Additionally, the Task Force updated its information related to federal contractors, visitors to federal facilities, and safety protocols.
Highlights include:
• Federal employees must be fully vaccinated by November 22, regardless of where they work. The guidance states that this applies to employees that are working remotely or are on maximum telework.
• "Fully vaccinated" is defined as two weeks after the employee receives the requisite number of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved or authorized for emergency use either by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or the World Health Organization. This means that federal employees must receive their last dose no later than November 8, 2021, to meet the November 22, 2021, deadline.
• Anyone that begins federal employment after the November 22 deadline must be fully vaccinated.
• Agencies do not need to provide vaccinations onsite to their employees.
• Limited exceptions for disability or a sincerely held religious belief are permitted. These exceptions will be assessed by each federal agency and additional agency-specific guidance will be forthcoming.
• Employees can be terminated for not being vaccinated (if they don't fall within medical or religious exceptions). Task Force guidance states that "employees should not be placed on administrative leave while the agency is pursuing an adverse action because of the employee's refusal to be vaccinated. Nonvaccinated employees must follow the public health protocols while at the worksite."
• The government will no longer give administrative leave for an employee to be vaccinated.
• Agencies must require documentation from employees to prove their vaccination status, even if the employee has previously attested to their vaccination status. The Task Force provides details on what is acceptable and how federal agencies must maintain this information.
• Visitors to federal facilities must attest to their vaccination status but agencies will not require them to document it.
• Onsite contractors must attest to their vaccination status until their contract incorporates vaccination requirements. Any onsite contractor that does not attest to being fully vaccinated or declines to provide this information must provide a negative COVID-19 test no later than three days prior to entry into a federal building.
Separately, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force is working on more detailed guidance related to COVID-19 protocol requirements that will be inserted into new and existing federal contracts. That guidance is to be released on September 24 and implemented in mid-October.
Lastly, the White House asked the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result at least weekly before coming to work. OSHA is expected to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to implement this requirement "in the coming weeks". This requirement will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses with 100+ employees. The OSHA rule may affect some airports and their workforce.
AAAE staff will keep you abreast of any updates or changes to the vaccination requirements for federal and private-sector employees as well as contractors.
