Skip to Content
Logo
Menu
  • About Our Firm
  • Practice Areas
  • Our People
  • Learning Library
  • Corporate Transparency Act
  • Contact
  • Make A Payment

OSHA to Issue Updated Guidance on COVID-19 Pandemic; Stricter Standards to Come.

OSHA to Issue Updated Guidance on COVID-19 Pandemic; Stricter Standards to Come.

March 8, 2021

President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order (the “Order”) directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) to issue new guidance on employer work-place safety obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Order also directs the Department of Labor to explore new ways to protect employees otherwise not covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. President Biden also asked Congress to pass legislation strengthening and expanding OSHA’s authority to cover public sector workers in states where they are not protected by the Department of Labor’s safety standards.

Per the Order, OSHA released their updated guidance (“Guidance”) on January 29, 2021. The Guidance recommends employers provide workers with face coverings, free vaccinations, and when applicable, paid sick leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The Guidance also recommends providing information to employees on screening and testing in the workplace. The Guidance discourages employers from distinguishing between vaccinated and unvaccinated employees when implementing safety measures such as social distancing or workplace sanitizations.

Employers are also encouraged to assign a workplace coordinator to manage COVID-19 issues on their behalf. Workplace coordinators would be charged with hazard assessments to identify potential COVID-19 workplace hazards. They would also establish systems to communicate with employees about COVID-19 symptoms and exposures. Finally, they would educate and train employees on workplace COVID-19 policies and procedures.

OSHA guidelines do not have the same legal effect as official OSHA standards. However, if OSHA issues a temporary emergency standard by March 15, 2021, this Guidance offers insight on what employers should expect.

Employer Takeaways

Much of the Guidance suggests measures that CCM clients have already been doing. Nevertheless, employers should expect increased enforcement of COVID-19 rules and review their safety rules. CCM will keep you informed of any new administrative standards or executive orders pertaining to COVID-19 obligations as they arise. Hopefully, these guidelines will become a thing of the past as more and more of the U.S. workforce is vaccinated against this terrible plague.

Related Attorneys

Clingen Callow & McLean, LLC
Lisle Office
2300 Cabot Drive, Suite 500
Lisle, Illinois, 60532
Phone 630.871.2600
Geneva Office
21 North 4th Street
Geneva, Illinois, 60134
Phone 630.938.4769
Fax 630.871.9869
General Inquires [email protected]
  • facebook
  • linkedin

Contact Us

©2025 Clingen Callow & McLean, LLC. All rights reserved.

Law Firm Web Design by NMC

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}