By Brent I. Clark, James L. Curtis, Benjamin D. Briggs, Mark A. Lies, II. Adam R. Young, A. Scott Hecker, Ilana Morady, Patrick D. Joyce, Daniel R. Birnbaum, Matthew A. Sloan, and Craig B. Simonsen

Seyfarth Synopsis: On June 21, 2021, the federal register published OSHA’s COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (“ETS”), focused on the health care industry.

As we blogged about here, OSHA posted its COVID-19 ETS to its website on June 10, 2021, but the ETS did not go into effect until its June 21 publication in the Federal Register.

29 CFR 1910.502(s) includes compliance dates for specific provisions of the ETS. Generally, health care sector employers must comply with the ETS’s requirements by July 6, 2021, except for the provisions concerning physical barriers, ventilation and training obligations, which have a compliance date of July 21, 2021. See id. at (i), (k), (n), and (s).

We are not aware of any legal challenges to the ETS having been filed, but there is certainly potential for litigation concerning the rule. The ETS’s medical removal requirements regarding maintenance of pay and provision of paid leave stand out as primary targets for contest.

For more information on this or any related topic, please contact the authors, your Seyfarth attorney, or any member of the Workplace Safety and Health (OSHA/MSHA) Team.