A federal appeals court has reinstated the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandate for companies with 100 or more employees.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA will begin issuing penalties Jan. 10.
The newly reinstated mandate impacts thousands of Hoosiers at businesses across the state.
“Our advice to employers is you need to resume, if you discontinued, the process of getting ready for that,” said Kevin Brinegar, president and CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Under the mandate, all workers at companies with 100 or more employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested weekly. Those who are not vaccinated must also wear a mask at work.
OSHA will not issue penalties for violations of the testing component until Feb. 9, as long as the business is making an effort to comply, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Still, fines could be issued for companies that do not enforce the mandate as soon as Jan. 10.
“That’s not very far away, particularly when you consider a lot of folks will be taking time off over the holidays … plus they’ve got to set up their record-keeping systems for all this as well,” Brinegar said.
Click here to see the full report from Fox59 in Indianapolis.
