By Lynne Curry bio
Most of your office staff have received vaccines. Those who remain unvaccinated either haven’t decided whether they will or have refused to get vaccinated. What’s next? Can you relax your workplace protocols?
New CDC guidance
In recent weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided new COVID-19 guidance for fully vaccinated individuals.1 Fully vaccinated individuals may interact indoors with other vaccinated individuals without wearing masks or physical distancing. Fully vaccinated individuals, except for those who live in a group setting or themselves experience COVID-19 symptoms, no longer need to quarantine and test if they’ve been around someone who has COVID-19.2
Fully vaccinated individuals do need to wear a well-fitted mask, physically distance and practice other prevention protocols when interacting with unvaccinated individuals from multiple households or in public. They also need to avoid medium- and larger-sized in-person gatherings, to watch out for COVID-19 symptoms, and to get tested if they experience COVID-19 symptoms.
Employer protocol modifications
As an employer, how should you modify your workplace protocols to account for this new guidance?
Even if your workplace includes both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, you need to maintain all COVID-19 protocols, including masking and distancing. This protects your unvaccinated employees.
If, however, all employees in a particular enclosed workspace have received both vaccinations and no others (patients, vendors, unvaccinated coworkers) enter their workspace, these employees need not wear masks nor stay six feet apart, unless a state or local masking mandate exists.
If all employees in a meeting have been vaccinated, they don’t need to wear masks or remain six feet apart during the meeting. New OSHA standards are expected soon, and employers need to consult those standards as well as any new state or local rules. Employers may also want to obtain a signed vaccination status acknowledgement from all meeting attendees, along with a waiver related to misrepresentation of vaccination status.
Fully vaccinated employees may eat together.
The CDC advises that all individuals, even those fully vaccinated, not travel. As a result, employers need to minimize required travel and listen and thoughtfully respond to employee who express concerns about required travel.
Because vaccinations don’t offer one hundred percent protection, vaccinated employees can still get COVID-19. If a vaccinated employee develops COVID-19 symptoms following exposure, they need to isolate and may need to work remotely or take leave.
Employees with disabilities or other underlying health conditions that puts them at higher risk of a serious illness if they contract COVID-19 may still need a reasonable accommodation such as teleworking.
Employers may adopt stricter protocol than those required by law or recommended by the CDC. The CDC does state that employees need to observe employer protocols. While employees or visitors to a workplace may resist stricter protocols, employers generally can discipline employees who don’t comply with their protocols.
1https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated.html
2Looser COVID-19 Rules for Vaccinated Individuals? What This Means for Employers – Lexology
3https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/covid-19-return-to-work-survey/