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The newest guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force addresses a number of issues that arose from the administration’s get vaccinated or get tested policy for federal employees including that:
· agencies may use any COVID-19 viral test, such as a PCR or antigen test, that has been authorized by the FDA to detect current infection.
· agencies are to pay for the cost of testing their employees, including employees visiting other agencies on a pre-approved visit.
· agencies may not require a federal employee who is not fully vaccinated to work from home based solely on their vaccination status.
· the time the employee spends obtaining a required test, including travel time if applicable, is duty time.
· testing may be more than once a week depending on job responsibilities, levels of community transmission of the Coronavirus and other factors.
· employees who have been exposed to persons with COVID-19 at work should receive diagnostic testing at the agency’s expense; employees exposed outside of work “should follow CDC guidelines for testing and quarantine and not enter a worksite.”
· agencies “should engage with employee unions at their earliest opportunity as they develop agency-specific testing plans and otherwise satisfy any applicable collective bargaining obligations under the law at the earliest opportunity, including on a post-implementation basis where appropriate.”
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