US Department of Labor extends comment period for COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has extended the comment period for the COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard to Jan. 19, 2022. OSHA extended the comment period by 45 days to allow stakeholders additional time to review the ETS and collect information and data necessary for comment.

Submit comments identified by Docket No. OSHA-2021-0007 electronically at https://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Follow the online instructions for making electronic submissions. The Federal e-Rulemaking Portal is the only way to submit comments on this rule. Read the Dec. 3, 2021 Federal Register notice for details.

On Nov. 5, OSHA issued an emergency temporary standard to protect workers from the spread of coronavirus on the job. The emergency temporary standard covers employers with 100 or more employees. Covered employers must develop, implement and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, unless they adopt a policy requiring employees to either get vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work. More information about the ETS is available on OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS webpage.

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Editor’s note: Release updated to include link to the Dec. 3 Federal Register notice.