Maine Board of Occupational Safety and Health to Meet on OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard Requiring COVID-19 Vaccination or Testing for Public Sector Employees

Maine Board of Occupational Safety and Health to Meet on January 18 on OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard Requiring COVID-19 Vaccination or Testing for Public Sector Employees

Per State law and longstanding agreement with OSHA, Maine must adopt the standard for public employers.

AUGUSTA - Maines Board of Occupational Safety and Health (BOSH) will hold a special meeting virtually at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 to discuss adopting the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administrations (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for the public sector.

The federal ETS requires that all private employers with 100 or more employees ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or require that any workers who remain unvaccinated wear a mask at work and produce a negative COVID-19 test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. OSHA enforcement of the ETS for private sector employers takes effect January 10, 2022.

As announced in September 2021 - https://www.maine.gov/labor/news_events/article.shtml?id=5589189 , the U.S. Department of Labor informed the Maine Department of Labor that its requirement will apply to public sector employers in Maine, including state, county, and local governments, and public-school systems. Under longstanding State law and a 2015 agreement with the Federal government, known as a "state plan - https://www.osha.gov/stateplans/me ," Maine is required to adopt and enforce for public employers all of OSHAs occupational safety and health standards. Maine is one of 26 states and two territories to have a state plan agreement with the Federal government.

BOSH is required to adopt OSHA's standards within 30 days of the standard's official release; however, the process had been temporarily paused due to ongoing federal litigation. On December 17, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dissolved the Fifth Circuits stay of the ETS, thereby reimposing the requirement that BOSH adopt its own rule for public sector employers.

As a result, at its meeting BOSH is expected to adopt an emergency rule for public sector employers and begin the regular process to adopt a permanent rule. The BOSH rule must at a minimum conform to the federal OSHA standard. The emergency rule for public sector employers is expected to be effective immediately. However, MDOL would exercise its enforcement discretion in the same manner as OSHA, giving employers thirty days to comply with most of the requirements, and an additional thirty days to comply with the testing requirement.

Pending Court action may impact the schedule of this meeting.

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