On September 9, 2021, President Biden directed the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop and issue a rule requiring all private sector employers with more than 100 employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to submit to weekly testing. The OSHA rule that is issued will also require employers to provide employees with paid time off for the time it takes for workers to get vaccinated and to recover from vaccination side effects without losing pay. OSHA has the authority to issue this rule, under what is known as an emergency temporary standard, without a notice and comment period. The forthcoming OSHA rule is part of President Biden’s plan to get all unvaccinated Americans vaccinated, as part of his pandemic recovery plan.
Once the rule is issued, NAR will provide key updates and information on details of the rule and its impact on the real estate industry, including who is responsible for paying for testing for employees; the impact on independent contractors, and more.