Answers to the Most Common COVID-19 Coronavirus Questions

Under the direction of President Joe Biden’s Path Out of the Pandemic plan, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require private employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated (absent medical or religious accommodations) or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. OSHA will issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to implement this requirement. When OSHA will issue this ETS, the amount of time employers will have to implement the requirements and many other specifics of implementation are yet to be determined.

The ETS will also require employers to give workers paid time off to get vaccinated or recover from any side effects of getting vaccinated. Currently, offering paid leave for these reasons is voluntary, with tax credits available for those employers with fewer than 500 employees who do provide paid-time-off for vaccination-related absences.

Biden's plan also requires health care workers in most settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement to be vaccinated, as currently required in nursing facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will provide forthcoming guidance to affected employers.

On Sept. 9, 2021, Biden also signed an executive order requiring federal employees of the executive branch ato get the COVID-19 vaccine, removing the option to instead undergo regular testing. A second executive order requires certain federal contractors to also vaccinate their employees. Federal employees will have 75 days to get fully vaccinated from the time the executive order is signed, with exceptions for medical and religious accommodations.

We will continue to update this FAQ when more guidance is available. For additional information, see What do the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements under the Path Out of the Pandemic plan mean for employers?

Yes. While many employers are continuing to encourage employees to receive the vaccine, some employers, including small employers not covered by the forthcoming OSHA emergency temporary standard requiring vaccination (or weekly testing), are choosing to implement a mandatory vaccination policy. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released specific guidance (Section K) on the COVID-19 vaccine, allowing for employers to require employees to receive the vaccine. It has also updated its Pandemic Preparedness for the Workplace guidance to reflect the current COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance indicates that an employer must consider reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities and those employees whose religious beliefs conflict with receiving a vaccine.

In guidance dated Aug. 13, 2021, OSHA said getting vaccinated against the coronavirus is "the optimal step" to protect the workplace. The agency recommends that employers facilitate employees getting vaccinated and “suggests that employers consider adopting policies that require workers to get vaccinated or to undergo regular COVID-19 testing.”

State laws are rapidly evolving regarding mandatory vaccination policies, and employers should monitor this activity for any vaccine restrictions in states where employees are working.

If your workforce is covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), a required vaccination would be a condition of employment that may already be included in the CBA or may need to be bargained with the union before such a policy could be implemented.

While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not yet released the emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring private employers with 100 or more employees to mandate vaccination or weekly testing for their unvaccinated employees, covered employers should start preparations to comply now. See How to Prepare for OSHA's COVID-19 Vaccination Emergency Temporary Standard.

Under federal law, employers are permitted to ask employees if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19; however, caution should be taken to avoid soliciting information related to an employee’s medical condition. A simple yes or no response from employees should be sufficient, and employers should instruct employees not to provide additional information about the reason they may not have received the vaccine. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires an employer to maintain the confidentiality of employee medical information, such as documentation or other confirmation of COVID-19 vaccination. SeeConsider These Steps When Asking Employees About Vaccination Status.

State and local laws may differ and should be reviewed. For example, Montana prohibits employers from requiring employees to disclose their immunization status, possess an immunity passport, or receive vaccines used under an emergency use authorization or undergoing safety trials.

When employers make vaccination a condition of employment (absent medical and religious accommodations), some employees may have general objections to receiving a COVID-19 vaccination and employers need to decide how to proceed in these circumstances. Terminating employees might not be the desired approach, but allowing for a leave of absence, transfer to another position, telework, regular testing or other modifications might be acceptable solutions. See What Employers Can Do If Workers Refuse a COVID-19 Vaccination.

Once the executive order requiring vaccination for federal employees and contractors is effective, those employers may have fewer options for handling workers covered by the order who refuse to comply with vaccination requirements.

Yes. Employers should develop a policy outlining any requirement or recommendation for COVID-19 vaccinations in the workplace. SeeVaccination Policy: Mandatory and Vaccination Policy: Voluntary.

The U.S. government is providing the COVID-19 vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status. As a vaccine recipient, you cannot be charged for the COVID-19 vaccine.

If the vaccine is mandated by the employer, the employer may be required to pay an employee for time spent getting the vaccine. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, an employer must cover any work-related expenses for an employee if the cost of the expense would drop the employee below minimum wage. In addition, an employer is obligated to pay an employee for time spent seeking medical attention that is required by the employer and occurs during work hours.

OSHA's COVID-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard requires employers to provide reasonable time off and paid leave for vaccinations and vaccine side effects to employees working in health care settings. Employers in other industries not covered by the standard are encouraged by OSHA to provide similar paid leave.

In accordance with President Biden’s announcement on Sept. 9, 2021, OSHA’s forthcoming emergency temporary standard will include a requirement for covered employers to pay workers for vaccination-related absences.

Many state laws also require employers to pay for time spent getting the vaccine and recovering from vaccine reactions requiring time off from work.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act may provide employers immunity from claims related to side effects of a vaccine or other injury at the employer’s vaccination site if the employer supervises or administers an onsite vaccination program.

In an effort to avoid discouraging vaccination and negatively impacting employer attempts to incentivize the COVID-19 vaccine, current OSHA guidance indicates that employers are not required to record an employee’s side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine on OSHA 300 logs through May 2022.

Yes, under federal guidance, employers may offer incentives to employees to obtain a COVID-19 vaccination. State and local laws may also come into play and should be reviewed.

The EEOC has stated that employees who voluntarily receive a vaccination administered by their employer or its agent may be provided an incentive as long as it is not “so substantial as to be coercive.” Since pre-vaccination questions must be asked that could reveal medical disability information, the incentive cannot be so large that employees would feel pressured to divulge protected medical information. The EEOC did not, however, define what the incentive limits might be.

Alternatively, when employees voluntarily provide documentation or other confirmation that they received a COVID-19 vaccination on their own from a third-party provider that is not their employer or an agent of their employer, then, per the EEOC, there are no limitations to the incentive employers may provide.

An employer that voluntarily provides employees with paid leave as previously required under the FFCRA can claim a tax credit for qualifying leave provided from April 1, 2021, through September 30, 2021. The employer will take a dollar-for-dollar tax credit by retaining the amount of payroll taxes equal to the amount of qualifying sick and family care leave that it paid (up to statutory maximums), rather than deposit them with the IRS. For an overview of FFCRA requirements for tax credit eligibility, see COVID-19-Related Tax Credits for Paid Leave.

The ARPA also expands the qualifying reasons for paid leave eligible for the tax credit to include absences because:

• The employee is obtaining a COVID-19 vaccination.
• The employee is recovering from any illness related to receiving the vaccine.
• The employee is seeking or waiting for test results or a medical diagnosis for COVID-19, or the employer has requested the employee to obtain the same.
• The employee is accompanying a qualifying individual to obtain immunization related to COVID-19.
• The employee is caring for a qualifying individual who is recovering from any injury, disability, illness or condition related to the immunization.

While the requirement to provide paid leave under the FFCRA has expired, the need for coronavirus-related employee absences continues. To ensure employees are able to take time off from work when sick and/or when needed to care for a family member, employers will need to decide whether to continue providing FFCRA-like leave voluntarily and, if not, determine what other leave options are available for employees. Consider state COVID-19-specific and other paid-sick-leave laws, leave as an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, FMLA leave for serious health conditions, and internal policies for paid time off when determining how to respond to employees who are unable to work for coronavirus-related reasons. Employers should avoid placing employees in a situation where they may feel forced to report to work when ill.

Under the ARPA, from April through September 2021, free COBRA coverage is available for employees (and their covered family members) who lost group health insurance as a result of an involuntary termination or reduction in hours due to the pandemic. This subsidy does not apply to those who voluntarily quit their employment. The subsidy will be paid to employers through a payroll tax credit, resulting in no premiums for covered participants during the six-month period. See Biden Signs Stimulus Bill with 100% COBRA Subsidy Through September.

Employers will need to identify AEIs to ensure the subsidy is applied correctly and that election notification requirements are met. See Who is eligible for the COBRA subsidy under the ARPA, and how must we notify them? and IRS Notice 2021-13, Premium Assistance for COBRA Benefits.

There is a “no double dipping” rule with these tax credits, so employers claiming two or all three credits need to ensure they claim the appropriate amounts for each.

The COBRA subsidy under the ARPA creates a 100 percent tax credit for the cost of health care coverage. As the other two credits allow for qualified health plan expenses to be included in the calculation of applicable tax credit due, claiming these credits simultaneously will create a double-dipping issue if these health plan expenses include the costs related to COBRA coverage.

Additionally, federal and state relief-based loans, such as those provided under the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), may exclude wages eligible for tax credits under other programs (i.e., PPP loans will not cover paid leave submitted for credits related to the FFCRA).

Yes, the subsidy covers dental and vision coverage under COBRA. The subsidy does not, however, cover flexible spending accounts.

On May 18, 2021, the IRS released extensive guidance that includes detailed definitions on these two terms within the Q&As. See questions 21-23 for guidance on reduction in hours, and questions 24-34 for guidance on involuntary termination.

In general, “involuntary termination” refers to those terminations decided by the employer, such as a discharge (including for cause), or layoff from employment, but it can also apply to a constructive discharge initiated by the employee (explained in the guidance). Only an involuntary termination for “gross misconduct” would exclude an employee from the subsidy.

Eligibility due to a reduction in hours has no qualifiers; whether the reduction in hours was at the employee’s request or due to the employer’s business needs is not relevant. Those eligible for COBRA coverage while on a leave of absence, furlough, or work stoppage or strike would also be eligible for the subsidy due to a reduction in hours.

Additionally, the eligibility reason does not need to be related to the pandemic. For example, if an employer terminates Marguerite’s employment on April 15, 2021, due to performance issues, she would be eligible for the ARPA subsidy if she elects COBRA coverage.

The details of each employer's plan to return will look different, but SHRM has a checklist of 10 key issues for employers to address. SeeCOVID-19 Back-to-Work Checklist.

According to OSHA’s guidance document Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace, all employers should engage with workers and their representatives to determine how to implement multi-layered interventions to protect unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including:

1. Facilitate employees getting vaccinated. Employers should grant paid time off for employees to get vaccinated and recover from any side effects.
2. Instruct any workers who are infected, unvaccinated workers who have had close contact with someone who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, and all workers with COVID-19 symptoms to stay home from work to prevent or reduce the risk of transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19.
3. Implement physical distancing in all communal work areas for unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers. Maintaining physical distancing at the workplace for such workers is an important control to limit the spread of COVID-19. Employers could also limit the number of unvaccinated or otherwise at-risk workers in one place at any given time, for example by implementing flexible worksites (e.g., telework); implementing flexible work hours (e.g., rotate or stagger shifts to limit the number of such workers in the workplace at the same time); delivering services remotely (e.g., phone, video or web); or implementing flexible meeting and travel options, for such workers.
4. Provide workers with face coverings or surgical masks, as appropriate, unless their work task requires a respirator or other personal protective equipment. In addition to unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) recommends that even fully vaccinated people wear masks in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission and notes that fully vaccinated people may appropriately choose to wear masks in public indoor settings regardless of community level of transmission, particularly if they are at risk or have someone in their household who is at risk or not fully vaccinated.
5. Educate and train workers on your COVID-19 policies and procedures using accessible formats and in languages they understand. Train managers on how to implement COVID-19 policies. Communicate supportive workplace policies clearly, frequently and via multiple methods to promote a safe and healthy workplace.
6. Suggest or require that unvaccinated customers, visitors or guests wear face coverings in public-facing workplaces such as retail establishments, and that all customers, visitors or guests wear face coverings in public, indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. This could include posting a notice or otherwise suggesting or requiring that people wear face coverings, even if no longer required by your jurisdiction. Individuals who are under the age of 2 or are actively consuming food or beverages on site need not wear face coverings.
7. Maintain ventilation systems. The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads between people more readily indoors than outdoors. Improving ventilation is a key engineering control that can be used as part of a layered strategy to reduce the concentration of viral particles in indoor air and the risk of virus transmission to unvaccinated and otherwise at-risk workers in particular.
8. Perform routine cleaning and disinfection. If someone who has been in the facility within 24 hours is suspected of having or confirmed to have COVID-19, follow the CDC cleaning and disinfection recommendations.
9. Record and report COVID-19 infections and deaths. Under mandatory OSHA rules in 29 CFR part 1904, employers are required to record work-related cases of COVID-19 illness on OSHA’s Form 300 logs if the following requirements are met: 1) the case is a confirmed case of COVID-19; 2) the case is work-related (as defined by 29 CFR 1904.5); and 3) the case involves one or more relevant recording criteria (set forth in 29 CFR 1904.7) (e.g., medical treatment, days away from work).
10. Implement protections from retaliation and set up an anonymous process for workers to voice concerns about COVID-19-related hazards.Section 11(c) of the OSH Act prohibits discharging or in any other way discriminating against an employee for engaging in various occupational safety and health activities.
11. Follow other applicable mandatory OSHA standards. All of OSHA's standards that apply to protecting workers from infection remain in place. These mandatory OSHA standards include: requirements for personal protective equipment (29 CFR part 1910, Subpart I (e.g., 1910.132 and 133)), respiratory protection (29 CFR 1910.134), sanitation (29 CFR 1910.141), protection from bloodborne pathogens (29 CFR 1910.1030), and OSHA's requirements for employee access to medical and exposure records (29 CFR 1910.1020). Many health care workplaces will be covered by the mandatory OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard. More information on that standard is available on OSHA's website. Employers are also required by the general duty clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, to provide a safe and healthful workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm.

If the practice is applied consistently, an employer may ask an employee to be tested for the virus that causes a COVID-19 infection before allowing the employee to return to the workplace. Antibody testing, however, is not currently permitted under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), per EEOC guidance.

The CDC's guidance on this is updated as recommendations change. SeeDiscontinuation of Home Isolation for Persons with COVID-19 (Interim Guidance).

According to guidance from the EEOC, “Employers may ask all employees who will be physically entering the workplace if they have COVID-19 or symptoms associated with COVID-19, and ask if they have been tested for COVID-19.”

State and local laws may differ and should be reviewed.

No. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) privacy rules restrict employers from sharing personal health information about an employee. Employers should inform employees that possible exposure has occurred in the workplace without disclosing any identifying information about the individual who tested positive.

According to CDC guidance, essential employees who have had close contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19 may continue to work as long as the employee is asymptomatic and protective measures are taken such as having the employee wear a mask, screening the employee for temperature and other symptoms and regularly disinfecting work areas.

As of July 27, 2021, CDC guidance recommends that fully vaccinated people wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. Additionally, many states and localities continue to enforce mask requirements and private businesses and workplaces may set their own policies.

Employers should also continue to follow OSHA's guidance guidance for all employers, updated Aug. 13, 2021, which recommends employers continue to protect unvaccinated workers by requiring them to wear masks and encourages employers to require masks for everyone in indoor settings in areas of substantial or high community transmission. Additionally, employers with health care workers now have an actual emergency standard (regulation) to follow.

SeeWhat should we consider when relaxing or continuing mask-wearing policies?

Because the CDC and state/local health authorities have acknowledged community spread of COVID-19, employers may measure employees' body temperature. As with all medical information, employers must maintain the confidentiality of employee temperatures and other symptoms as required by the ADA. SeeA Guide to Employee Temperature Checks.

Employers must weigh an employee's' health concerns and legal rights under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with the organization's' business needs. SeeWhat to Do When Scared Workers Don’t Report to Work Due to COVID-19.

Some employers have discovered during this crisis that remote work can be a successful arrangement and will consider allowing telework arrangements to continue. However, absent a need to work remotely as a reasonable accommodation under the American’s with Disabilities Act, employers are not obligated to allow telework. SeeWork at Home/Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation.

In most cases, no. If the employees were not separated from payroll, documenting the temporary layoff or furlough dates for the personnel file is sufficient. Significant changes, such as a new job title or pay rate, should be documented as well.

No. According to the CDC, “Antibody test results should not be used to determine if someone can return to work.” The EEOC has also released guidance stating, “the ADA at this time does not allow employers to require antibody testing before allowing employees to re-enter the workplace.”