Federal vaccine mandate for any employers of over 100 employees is coming … City of Lakeland Mr. Mayor

The city of Lakeland is offering Vaccine Incentive Leave Days (see memo below) to the police department only, not the fire or utility worker unions, why? Why not all Lakeland city workers? All city workers are subject to the Federal vaccine mandate for any employer of over 100 employees.

President Biden’s executive order and https://www.whitehouse.gov/covidplan/

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. OSHA will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement. 

Vaccination deadline of Nov. 22.

Employers who do not comply with the ETS could face OSHA citations and penalties of up to $14,000 per violation

Employer Vaccine Incentives

Employers can offer incentives to their employees to confirm they or their families are vaccinated. If an employer offers the vaccination itself, however, the program must be voluntary because the employer would have to ask screening questions before giving the vaccine that is related to disability or family medical history that is prohibited under the ADA and GINA. If incentives offered are so great that the employee is effectively coerced into answering these questions, the program would be involuntary and would violate the law. Incentives to get vaccinated from community-based providers — for instance, at a pharmacy — are allowed. Simply inquiring about vaccine status violates neither of these laws.