Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Brian McGuire, President and CEO of AED. It's my pleasure to welcome you to our COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency standard webinar. Before we get started, I want to remind everybody to feel free to post your questions in the chat and we will cover those at the end. Special thanks to Michael Airdoe for doing today's webinar and Daniel Fisher for organizing it. Now, again, the purpose of this webinar is to take you through what the emergency standard says. This webinar is not to debate the merits of the administration issuing these orders that will be done at a public policy forum with Mr. Fisher. But it's really to give guidance on what the order says and how companies can comply with it and also answer any questions people have about the order itself. So with that in mind, again, welcome. And we want to give a special thanks to those non-AED members from our partnering associations for joining us today as well. Without further ado, it's my pleasure to turn it over to Mr. Daniel Fisher, Senior Vice President with the Associated Equipment Distributors. Daniel? Well, thank you, Brian. I'll just be brief before we turn it over to our special guests here. But I just want to let everyone know that in Washington, we've been working hard with the administration as well as members of Congress as soon as this executive order was issued by the Biden administration to let them know our concerns with both the topic of today, the vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard, as well as the federal contractor testing mandate that went out that was released at the end of September. So, again, we've been engaging all policymakers in DC conveying our concerns and we will continue to do so, particularly as we learn more about the impact that this mandate will have on AED members. So with that, I'm pleased to introduce Michael Airdoe of the law firm Airdoe Where Was. A different firm name, but the same old Michael Airdoe that we know and love. So, Michael, why don't you take it from here? Thanks. Thanks, Daniel. I guess Daniel knows I turned 50 this year, so he's calling me old. But that also means I'm in a protected class. I've been in a protected class for 40 years, so I can take action in the event I feel I feel discriminated against. Hello, everyone, and it is certainly an honor and privilege to be with all of you today. My special thanks to Brian McGuire for allowing me the opportunity to have a conversation with you this afternoon on this emergency temporary standard that OSHA issued. And special thanks to Daniel Fisher as well for the opportunity. As everybody knows, this is the legal disclaimer that says what I tell you doesn't replace what your personal counsel tells you. So be sure to consult with your personal counsel and you will hear me tell you that throughout the conversation this afternoon. I thought I'd start with thinking about what do I what do I say to all of you to open up? And I like to usually like to start with something a little little funny. And I was thought of a quote from Ronald Reagan. That's the guy who's standing right behind me. Thirty five years ago, on August 12th, 1986, Ronald Reagan held a press conference. And in that press conference, Ronald Reagan said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Now, as President McGuire said, we're not here to debate the merits of the OSHA temporary standard today. But I thought it would set the stage for where we are in terms of what's going to happen if this if this OSHA standard does that does withstand the scrutiny that is already being challenged in the court system. We're going to have five main topics. We're going to give you a little bit of background in the legal landscape that I just referred to. And then we'll talk about the scope and the application. The workplace COVID-19 controls that the rule requires what information you if you're a covered employer, what you must provide to your employees, what reporting and record keeping requirements are and then I'm going to end the discussion with the talk a little bit about considerations for compliance and things that you need to consider. So the background and the legal landscape. So, so as everybody knows, on Thursday, we had the, the temporary standard that was issued the COVID-19 vaccination and temporary and testing emergency temporary standard. This is a critical piece of what we need to recognize because it is only a temporary standard and it's in place for for the next six months unless it's taken away sooner. According to the Biden administration and the Department of Labor. The, the emergency temporary standard the ETF will cover 84 million people. The ETS permits the agency. So the OSHA Act passed by Congress, many years ago, permits the agency OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue ETS, if it, and enforce it immediately. arrives at the conclusion that a grave danger to workers safety exists grave danger is the is the messaging, and and because it's an emergency temporary standard the CTS for the read for that reason, it didn't go through the normal typical notice and comment period that federal regulations, normally follow. We will provide you with a copy of these slides at 80 will certainly provide you with them and there are there are embedded links, but the ETS is available on the federal registers website. It's 490 pages, and and we read them so you don't have to. And I'm going to refer to a lot of the commentary and the information that is contained in those pages. There are also additional resources available on OSHA's website. There's about the ETS, the ETS summary, the frequently asked questions document which I'm going to discuss with you a lot today. And then the materials incorporated by reference, all our, all our materials and documents, you ought to consider. In general, what the ETS requires is that private employers with more than 100 employees, either mandate covered employees to be fully vaccinated against covert 19, or require those covered employees and all of these are going to be technical terms covered employees that are not fully vaccinated to test for covert 19 at least weekly, and wear a face covering. So that's what the mandate is, if you have 100 or more employees, you got to either mandate that those employees who show up to your shop are fully vaccinated or if they decide they're not going to get fully vaccinated. They have to test weekly and wear a face covering while they're at work. So as part of the ETS covered employers covered employers, meaning, if you have over 100 employees, you must also establish implement and enforce a written policy on vaccines, testing and face coverings provide certain information to employees on vaccines, requirements of the ETS provide paid time off to employees to obtain the vaccine and reasonable time and paid sick leave to recover from the side effects experienced following any primary vaccination series dose to each employee after each dose. So we're not talking about booster shots boosters are not discussed, it is is going to be, you have to have a policy, you have to have, you have to provide information, you have to give time off to go for the vaccine and reasonable time to recover, we'll talk about what all those things are. You have to obtain and maintain records and a roster of employee vaccination status, because OSHA could come in and ask for that, and you have to provide it within four hours of the request. And you have to comply with certain notice requirements. When there is a positive COVID-19 case, and you have to report to OSHA, when you have established that there's an employee work related COVID-19 fatality or hospitalization. So let's begin with this kind of we're still in this background, and we're going to talk about preemption. So this, the, the law, right this rule, this temporary standard. It only applies. It applies comprehensively, and it preempts meaning it trumps any, any local state or federal authority. So, the ETS is intended to comprehensively address the occupational safety and health issues of vaccination face covering and testing for COVID-19. That is critical for you to recognize. It also preempts any state or local requirements on these issues, except those from OSHA approved state plans. In particular, it preempts any state or local law banning or limiting an employer from requiring vaccines face coverings or testing. So, we know, many of you know that that you have been that that conservative governors in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi. There's an expectation that they may issue similar orders to push back against the federal government. And so you will you have to keep that all in mind. recognize that that the ETS is effective immediately. It was published on November 5, the rule was issued on the fourth published on November 5 so the compliance dates are 30 days after publication for the provisions, other than testing for employees who have not received the entire primary vaccination and 60 days after publication for the testing of employees who have not received all their doses for a primary vaccination. This is a chart of important pieces of information, showing that December 6 2021. The requirements that have to be complied with, and then on January 4 2022. The last. So, the requirements that have to be in place if you are a covered employer meaning you have 100 or more employees, you have to have an establish a policy on vaccinations, determine the vaccination status of each employee and obtain acceptable proof of vaccination, maintain the records and roster of the vaccination status, you have to provide support for employee vaccination meaning, meaning allowing them to go get vaccinated on work basis, and and recover, get paid time off for recovery. You have to require employees to provide notice of know a positive coven 19 test, or a coven 19 diagnosis, you have to remove employees who received a positive coven 19 test, or a coven 19 diagnosis all have to be in effect, as of December six, you have to ensure that employees who are not fully vaccinated, where face coverings when indoors, or when occupying a vehicle with another person for work purposes, you have to provide them, each employee information about the standard workplace policies and procedures, vaccination efficacy, safety benefits protections against relation retaliation and discrimination and laws that provide for criminal penalties for knowingly supplying a false documentation of a coven 19 vaccine. You have to report work related fatalities. You have to make certain records available, and that what you have the 60 days to comply with the January for 2022, is to ensure that employees who are not fully vaccinated are tested for coven 19 at least once a week, or within seven days before returning. You have to have a plan that has your own OSHA plan a state issued plan, you have that that state has 30 days to adopt its own federal standard, or inform OSHA of the plans that are at least as effective as the ETS, and those states are listed here. 22 states or territories that have OSHA approved state plans that regulate private employers, those states do not have to adopt the federal standard, they may, if they don't have a plan in place within 30 days. As of December 6 OSHA will determine that they have not established a plan, and will will mandate that the federal plan is in place. And the reality is that the state plan has to be as strict or aggressive as the federal state plan is. So these are the states that you have to be on the watch for the. It can only, as I told you at the beginning, this temporary standard can only remain in effect until Cinco de Mayo, and then on Cinco de Mayo, it has to either become a permanent standard, or it has to go away. So, the permanent standard will go will undergo the formal rulemaking process involved in the typical notice and comment period during this six month timeframe, and you will see if you visit the OSHA website, and you read the 490 pages, the introductory comments to this, that temporary standard are asking for employers to give feedback on very specific issues. So, if you have operations in multiple states, you will need to follow the varying standards and timeframes applicable in each state. If you are in a state with an OSHA approved state plan, and the governor has issued an order banning mandates, you will be in limbo with respect to your vaccine policies until the adoption of the ETS in the state plan. You should comply with the governor's order while it remains in effect to avoid penalties for violating the governor's order, but you should be prepared to change course once the ETS takes effect. If you are unclear about the course of action or can't reconcile the differences between the applicable state and federal rules, you should certainly confer with your legal counsel to develop an appropriate response. You should know that covered employers are subject to inspection for OSHA compliance with OSHA compliance safety and health officers, or if you're in a state plan with your state officials, their priorities as enumerated in the statute is imminent danger situations, severe injuries and illnesses, worker complaints, referrals from other agencies, targeted inspections, and follow-up inspections. And you should be aware that certainly there has been a lot of dialogue and discussion about the lack of people power, manpower at OSHA and in the state agencies. So the reality is that OSHA will likely be alerted to the fact that you are not complying with the ETS by somebody in your own operation. So recognize that that will likely happen. That will be the source of an OSHA inspection. Covered employers who ignore the ETS while it's in effect, and remember it's in effect, your compliance dates December 6th and January 4th, could face OSHA citations and penalties up to $13,653. It's been rounded up to $14,000 per violation and additional citations or penalties as determined by OSHA or the state OSHA for willful or egregious failures to comply. So a covered employer could face a penalty of that amount for each facility, area within a facility, and each employee within a facility. So in addition to those OSHA citations, employers can face potential exposure for potential or civil claims asserted by employees, such as whistleblower retaliation, negligence and other claims. And there are whistleblower protections built into this standard, meaning if somebody calls in, you cannot retaliate against that person who made the call. So here is the violations for serious other than serious posting requirements up to the $14,000 for failure to abate another $14,000 per day beyond the abatement date and willful or repeated the $14,000 per violation. And so the other than serious violation where there's a direct relationship but will probably not cause death, that's one standard. The serious violation is there's a substantial probability and that the employer that you knew or should have known. A willful violation is you know or you're aware and you've made no reasonable effort to eliminate it. The failure to abate is when you have not corrected a previously cited violation upon re-inspection and a repeat violation as any violation of that standard upon re-inspection and a substantially similar violation is found. So, as you know, it's gotten a lot of press over the news. As of today, there are 26 coalitions of states that have filed challenges and the list is here. As to those states that have filed those challenges, we know that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Saturday morning that they issued a temporary halt. Because they said that the grave danger was not to the American worker but to the grave statutory and constitutional issues that would come with the mandate. So the lawsuit was filed by several Republican-led states, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, South Carolina and other private businesses. And per the court's order, OSHA has until today at five o'clock to file a response and the petitioners then those states will have 24 hours to file their reply. Ultimately, another circuit court may end up hearing the case and lifting the Fifth Circuit's stay. Interestingly enough, when several petitioners challenged the same OSHA rule in several circuits, the cases are consolidated through what is called a multi-circuit lottery. And after 10 days, the judicial panel on multi-district litigation in Washington, D.C. conducts a blind lottery and chooses a circuit at random. Now, the Fifth Circuit has the opportunity to issue an opinion, which is why there's this kind of expedited process. You all should tell me by five o'clock, you have 24 hours because they want to try to get something out before this lottery system goes into play. And the Justice Department could then appeal the Fifth Circuit's ruling directly to the United States Supreme Court, but the Justice Department will likely see to wait to wait and see which circuit wins the lottery. There's been a lot of conversations about this. And so I thought some buzzwords are that this is from a professor at Georgetown in the great district of Columbia that your esteemed Mr. Fisher is in. He said that no one has the right to go into a workplace unmasked, unvaxed and untested. So those are the buzzwords. So my final comments before I tell you why you should listen to me going forward and why this mandate will likely or may likely be in effect is because while it may be weeks away, we know that you don't have to do things until December 6th even if it's found to be constitutional, you should begin preparing now by establishing those policies for determining the status and the procedures for tackling. You should prepare for the possibility that employees may refuse to comply with the requirements which may very well include terminating their employment. There is likely going to be some element of what you are hearing in terms of the emergency temporary standard that will be in place that will cause you to have to take some action. So what is that action? The scope and application of section of 1910.501. So it applies to all employers with a total of 100 or more employees at any time the rule is in effect. So it includes part-time, it includes temporary, it includes seasonal and it includes remote workers. It does not include bona fide independent contractors and it does not include those employees you have on staff that are placed by a staffing agency. Those employees that work with you count towards the staffing agency's headcount. Now, what I'm talking to you about folks is whether or not the rule applies to you, not whether or not all of the obligations apply to the covered employee. We're gonna get to that. So the determination of whether an employer falls within the scope of the ETS should initially be done made as of the effective date. That happened as of November 5th. If you are an employee, an employer that has 100 or more employees, it applies for the duration of the standard. If you have fewer than 100 employees now, the standard does not apply to you as it exists. However, if during the duration, if between now and May 5th, you hire employees and that means you tick up to over 100 or 100 and over, you then apply and now you say, well, we go back down. The summer months we have 120 employees, but then come September 1, we drop down to 90 employees. It doesn't matter. The reality is if you have 100 employees now, it applies until May 5th, even if you have less employees going forward and you can't reduce headcount now to say, we don't wanna have to comply with this standard. We're gonna fire a bunch of people. Can't do it because you'd have had to do that before November 5th. And if you hire people in the interim and you get above it, you have to comply during the duration. Joint employers, if you have two or more related employees, and we'll give you all this so you have the language so you can go back and consult with it in the standard. But if it does, if you have two or more related entities and they're related, they may be regarded as a single employer for OSHA's purposes. If these two or more related entities, they might have a separate board of directors. They may be a subsidiary corporation. They may have a separate team of people. But if they're, if for safety matters, they're considered one, then you have to use all of those employees to count toward your headcount. And it did say that the traditional joint employer principles apply. So you have to be weary of that. You should expect that OSHA will decide these determinations on a case-by-case, fact-specific basis. So you should consider how interrelated you are, your entities are, in handling workplace safety issues, whether you have an integrated safety director, whether you respond to prior OSHA inspections through an umbrella entity rather than the individual entities. And you should consider whether or not you are a joint employer for purposes of other employment laws. Interestingly enough, they have talked about multi-employer work sites where, and they use an example of a construction company or a construction site. If you are a general contractor and you have a lot of subcontractors or you go out to a construction site to repair a piece of equipment, you don't have to count those people at the construction site. Each are considered their own separate employers for purposes of this standard. They don't apply, these standards don't apply to certain workplaces. And those workplaces are, if you are governed under the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force COVID-19 Workplace Safety, so a federal contractor, or you are a healthcare service, those comply with other requirements. So if you're governed by the federal contractor or you're a healthcare operation, you don't have to comply. Certain employees are not covered. Certain employees are not covered. They count toward the headcount. So when you're looking at your roster, they count to say, are we an employer with a hundred or more employees, but they don't have to comply with the strictures of the rule. So if you have employees who do not report to a workplace where other individuals, such as coworkers or customers are present, if they are working from home or they work exclusively outdoors, we'll tell you what this means. Working alone. OSHA says, if you work alone, you don't have to comply because there's no risk of infecting somebody else. Now, employees of a covered employee who do not report to a workplace where other individuals are, coworkers or customers are present and they work alone. But if those employees go out and make site visits and they go out and work with customers, they go out and work, they go out and make repairs to machines. They go out and make sales calls. They are not considered to be working alone. Are they working from home? OSHA has determined that it's not necessary to protect employees from COVID-19 when they work from home. But employees who switch back and forth from teleworking to working in a setting where other people are present are covered by the emergency temporary standards, meaning if the employer requires a vaccination, those employees must be vaccinated. If they don't require a vaccination, employer doesn't require a vaccination, but they have to complete testing or wear face covering, that will determine how often they come into the building. If they come into your place of employment, they have to wear their face covering if they're not vaccinated, and they have to prove proof of a test within seven days of entering the workplace. And all new hires should be treated similarly to an employee who has not entered the workplace in the last seven days. They have to either prove that they have been tested and they're COVID-free, and they have to wear a mask. Now, if your employees work exclusively outdoors, the key word is exclusively outdoors. They say, well, you don't have to be vaccinated or comply with the testing and masking requirements. And interestingly enough, the rule goes through the Sturgis event and why their rule applies and why Sturgis is a good indication of what happened and why what happened in the summer of civil unrest, why certain rules are required for in-place and why certain rules are required for outdoor requirements. So if the workplace is characterized as outdoors, they may in fact involve significant time spent indoors. So they do not work exclusively outdoors if they work outdoors on some days and indoors on others. And they do not work outdoors if they routinely occupy vehicles with others as part of the work duties. They'd go from site to site, they drive together in the same vehicle. The use of indoor spaces where other individuals may be present must be de minimis. So if they use a multi-storey bathroom, if they use an administrative office, so long as their time there is either exclusively at home or their time indoors is brief. So it has to be truly outdoors. Workplaces that are truly outdoors typically don't have any of the characteristics normally to enable transmission, which they say poor ventilation and closed spaces and crowding. But they give an example. They say, for example, buildings under construction where substantial portions of the structure are in place, such as wall and a ceiling, would impede the natural flow of fresh air at the work site are not outdoors. So those people working on those construction sites must be masked. And they give you a list in their rule, the source of who of percent outdoors constantly and outdoors exclusively. Remember, the rule applies to outdoors exclusively. And here's the list. Very few people are outdoors exclusively. The highest are landscaping and ground keeping workers, but highway maintenance workers aren't even found to be outside exclusively. So what are the controls? What has to be in place? Covered employers, meaning if you are one of those employers who have 100 or more employees, you have to establish, implement, and enforce one of two types of written policies. A mandatory vaccination policy or a policy allowing employees to choose either to become fully vaccinated or provide weekly proof of testing and wear a face cover. So the mandatory vaccine policy says that every employee must be fully vaccinated. And what does fully vaccinated mean? It means a person's status two weeks after completing all the required dosage of an approved COVID-19 vaccine with an appropriate interval between doses if applicable. Now this rule goes through painstaking detail about the Johnson and Johnson and the Moderna and the Pfizer. But what if you have somebody who's come from a foreign land or somebody who participated in a vaccination trial and somebody who's received a World Health Organization vaccine? You have to go through and determine whether or not those employees are considered fully vaccinated as defined under the standard. If they don't meet the definition of fully vaccinated, they're not fully vaccinated. And you have to recognize that. You should know that if because a person had COVID-19 and they have quote unquote natural immunity, OSHA doesn't recognize that. And booster shots and additional dosages are not for consideration. Now, who has to be vaccinated? The policy must require vaccination of all employees, including all new employees as soon as practicable, except those for whom a vaccination is medically contraindicated, for whom medical necessity requires a delay in vaccination or those who are legally entitled to a reasonable accommodation under the federal civil rights laws because they have a disability or because they have a sincerely held religious belief practice or observance that conflicts with the vaccine requirements. Now, I could spend two hours talking to you about each of these kind of waiver provisions or even each of these exemption provisions. I'm not going to do that. And I'd say, if you want a full discussion of this, talk to Mr. Fisher, talk to Daniel, and I'm happy to provide you with guidance and insight. I'm gonna touch on a high level of this because you can't go into this mandating this policy without knowing what it means. So OSHA talks about what a contraindication is. That is a person's got a severe allergic reaction, meaning they went into anaphylaxis after a previous dosage or a component of the vaccine. Or after four hours, they had an allergic reaction and a medical necessity, or they may be allergic to something that's in the vaccine and their doctor says, you're allergic to this, you can't get it. A medical necessity means that there's a temporary medical condition where a licensed medical provider recommends a delay in vaccination as a result of the condition. Reasonable accommodation under the ADA. The ADA has this federal framework that talks about whether or not you have to provide an accommodation based on a religion. So the ADA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act talks about religion. And you have to recognize that there may be state or local laws that may provide similar or more stringent strict protections. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you have to evaluate a request to say, I am not going to get vaccinated, I want a reasonable accommodation. You have to determine whether or not there's an essential function of the job. And I just give you a quick aside. So you have to determine whether or not there's a direct threat. And you recognize that there is a separate rule, there's a separate emergency temporary standard for healthcare providers. And that's because OSHA has said, there should be no testing exemption as a matter of course, for those in the healthcare business. Because the reality is that medical providers who provide direct patient care, even if they don't provide direct patient care, but they have access to those who need medical attention, there should not be this special testing exemption or opportunity because their care is so critical that we really want them to be vaccinated. And we don't want them to have this testing opt out. So you have to interact with your employee to determine if they apply, if they're entitled to a special exemption. And one of the various forms of the accommodation is can they remotely work? Can they have a different scheduled change? Meaning we work when others don't. Can they follow additional safety precautions, masking, distancing, frequent testing, changes in the work environment, or do you have to put them on unpaid leave? Meaning they can't come back until unvaccinated employees are welcome back into the workforce under the standards. You're not required to grant an accommodation that would create an undue hardship. And a medical undue hardship is characterized as a significant difficulty or expense. You will see that that is different from a religious hardship. So a medical undue hardship can be very challenging standard for employers to meet. So you have to consistently evaluate the accommodation and interact with your employees. Now, if those employees say, I don't wanna get vaccinated because I have a religious, I wanna be accommodated based on my religion, you have to determine whether or not that request is based upon a sincerely held religious belief or practice, as opposed to a secular or a non-spiritual reason, a philosophical or political reason. And you have to just say, how will the vaccine violate that employee's beliefs? And what accommodation is the employee requesting? You, again, have to confer and say, what do you want? And those accommodations, again, can take the same form that the others did. Now, you're not required to grant the request for accommodation that, again, would constitute an undue hardship. And the ADAs, the disability requirements, are different under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. They're less demanding, but you still have to go through the process. And there is guidance that has been provided by the EEOC as to what you should know about COVID-19 and the ADA and what you should know under Title VII. And I strongly encourage you to consult both of these provisions of their websites that are provided by the EEOC. So, you have to have a policy in place and you have to have a policy that says, are we gonna mandate vaccines or are we gonna mandate vaccines and testing with a mask? And the next thing you have to do is determine your employee's vaccination status. So you have to determine the vaccination status of each one of your employees. And you have to determine, is this employee fully vaccinated or are they on their way to being fully vaccinated? And you have to require each vaccinated employee to provide proof, acceptable proof, of the vaccination status of them. Are they partially or fully vaccinated? And any employee who doesn't provide acceptable proof has to be treated as not fully vaccinated. What is acceptable proof? Well, again, there are probably 30 pages of the 490 that this is distilled from. So acceptable proof of full or partial vaccination is a record of immunization from the healthcare provider or pharmacy. So an actual document from the pharmacy or the healthcare provider, a copy of that COVID vaccine record card that we've all seen, that those are the people that are looked at when you went into Lollapalooza or when you go into some place in Los Angeles now or when you're trying to prove that you're able to come back from a foreign land. Now, we do encourage that if you're gonna make a fraudulent one of those that you know how to spell Pfizer and Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. You can have a copy of the medical record that documents the vaccination, a copy of the immunization records or a copy of the immunization records from the public health safety or tribal immunization information systems. That information is uploaded. Illinois has it, many of the other states do or a copy of other official documentation containing the type of vaccine, the date of administration and the name of the healthcare professional or clinic that administered the vaccine. Now, if the employee is unable to produce an acceptable form of proof of the vaccine, the employee can provide a signed and dated statement that attests under the penalties of perjury and criminal penalties and the actual text of that form is prescribed by the rule, by the temporary standard, the temporary vaccination, vaccine status, the employee loss or is otherwise unable to produce the acceptable forms, the type of vaccine they got, the date the vaccine was administered, and where they got it. And the concern here is that early on when the vaccine rollout, there might have been a tent, there might have been a church picnic, there might have been some event where you can't go back to the source of that information because the record keeping wasn't maintained. But if you got it from the Army Corps of Engineers, the employee got it at the CVS or the Walgreens or the Rite Aid, they should be able to actually have actual proof. If they can't, they need to have an attestation. So the determination of the vaccine status. While this rule is in place, at least until May 5, 2022, covered employers, you have to maintain a roster of each employee's vaccination status and update it. You have to have a list. You have to preserve acceptable proof of the vaccination status for each employee who is partially or fully vaccinated. So you have to have the documentation and you have to maintain the roster and proof as an employee medical record as prescribed under the rule. Now, you have to keep and maintain those records as a retained record in a segregated file because it's considered a medical record. So you are not required to reevaluate vaccination status for fully vaccinated employees. If you have it already, they gave it to you, you don't have to go back and reevaluate it. You're permitted to use any record or response, even if it's not listed as an acceptable proof under the emergency temporary standard. So long as you're convinced that it's going to be okay. You are required to create a roster and you are required to maintain the vaccination while that vaccination proof, evidence, the actual copy of the card, a copy of the medical record in the file at your office, at your headquarters for the duration of the rule. You have to support the vaccination by providing, you have to provide vaccination support. So you have to have a policy, you have to have evidence and you have to have vaccination support. What is vaccination support? Vaccination support is, you have to provide a reasonable amount of time for, for employees for their primary vaccination doses and up to four hours of paid time, including travel at the regular rate of pay for this purpose. You are not obligated to reimburse for transportation costs. So we're not talking about employees who want to go for their booster shot. What we're talking about is employees who ask to go during the work hours to go and to, to, to be vaccinated for their primary dosage, for their two shots of Pfizer or Moderna or their one shot of J and J while they're here, you have to give them four times, four hours of paid time off, which includes their travel and completing the documents and all of those things. But you don't have to give them mileage or bus fare or anything else to get to and from. You have to also provide them with a reasonable amount of time to recover from the side effects. And OSHA has determined that that it's up to two days for each shot, two days for J and J two days for after the first dose of Moderna or, or Pfizer. Now you have to decide, am I going to, and I'm going to allow my employees to either be mandated, either be vaccinated, or if they don't want to be vaccinated, they can be tested and masked. You have to have, you have to allow them to undergo weekly testing in accordance with the testing requirements. And if they don't go, they don't have the, they don't have an updated COVID test. You have to remove them from the workplace until they provide that test result. And again, you have to maintain the record of the test results provided by the employees as an employee medical record for the duration. Now OSHA requires you to keep certain records for 30 years and a whole lot of things. We're not talking about that. We're talking about until May 5th. You have to have a copy of each of the test results, even if they're supplants, the new test result, you have to have a copy of each one of them because if OSHA comes in, you have to be able to produce that. And employee reports at least once every seven days to a workplace where other individuals such as coworkers or customers, meaning they go to a, they go to a site to fix a machine. They go to make a sales call. They have to be tested at least once every seven days. And they have to provide documentation of a most recent test result. No later than the seventh day, following the date on which the employee last provided the test results. Employee who does not report during that seven, the period of seven days. So where, where, where they're not present, they have to be tested within seven days before returning to the workplace and provide that documentation. So if this is a person who was a remote worker regularly, but they come in every so often, they don't have to, they don't have to get tested while they're working out of their basement, but they do have to get tested once they go back to visit a customer, fix a machine or come back to headquarters. Now, if an employee has, um, tested positive for COVID-19 or, and you have evidence of that, or you have a positive diagnosis by a licensed healthcare provider, those employers, you do not have to ask for those employees to be regularly tested because they are likely going to have a are likely going to have a positive COVID test. So for 90 days, following a positive COVID test, or after a doctor diagnoses them, you can't ask for a COVID-19 test, but you must ask that they remain masked when they return to work for that period of 90 days. Who pays, who pays a lot to talk about testing, who pays for testing. Now we know that the law says that the vaccine is free under the law. Everybody wants a vaccine has to get it for free. You have to pay up to four hours for them to go get vaccinated. And you have to give them two days off if they have side effects after the vaccine, but the cost of testing does not the mandate. The rule does not require covered employers to pay, but it may be required by other laws like the Fair Labor Standards Act, or your state and local wage and hour legislation, or collective bargaining agreements. So if you are wrangling with determining who's going to pay for weekly testing, you should certainly consult with your lawyers to evaluate the risks of determining who's going to pay, and the cost is going to be associated with it. Again, another 30 or 40 pages that talks about what tests comply, but they they have to be cleared, approved, or authorized by the FDA. They have to be administered in accordance with the authorized instructions, and not both self-administered and self-read tests are permitted. So those over-the-counter tests, unless they are observed, they're observed by you as the employer or an authorized telehealth proctor. We'll talk about that in a little bit. So PCR and rapid tests are permitted, and here's a whole line of other acceptable tests that I'm not going to go through with you. Again, they're very, they're very technical in terms of their specificity, but they, they, these are the types of tests that you can, you can employ, and they'll be available to you for consultation. If a, if an employee receives a positive test or is diagnosed by a doctor, a nurse practitioner, another licensed healthcare provider, with COVID, they have to, they have to alert you immediately, and you have to immediately remove that employee from the workplace. You are not required to pay, to pay for that employee's time off, for the isolation time, under this mandate, under this emergency temporary standard, under DTS, but it may be required by other laws, like again, your state and local paid sick leave laws, your regulations, your collective bargaining agreements, or your employee policy, employer policies. Now, you have to keep them removed from the workplace until they are, until they have a negative result, and this is on a very specific case, on a specific test, under, under a NAP test, they meet, they meet the return to work under the CDC's isolation guidance, or a doctor, medical professional says you can go back. What about face coverings? Now, there's a whole litany of what has to be required, so this is a person who's not fully vaccinated, and they're going, they're going through the testing and masking, right? Remember that professor said, they can't be unvaxed, unmasked, and untested. Well, they can come back, and you can require that they wear a mask. We must require that they wear a mask when they're indoors, and when they're occupying a vehicle with another person, another person for work purposes. There are five general exceptions. If they're in a room, they're in a closed room, floor to ceiling walls, and a door, then they can take their mask off. If they're in a, they're in the, in the cafeteria, and they're eating, and they're drinking, they can take their mask off. If, because they have to show their face, right, you know, the show, this is me, this is Michael Lerdo, did this at the airport this weekend when I'm going through, right, TSA, show me your mask, show me your mask face, pull it up, you can take the mask off. If you're wearing a respirator or a face mask, what is a face mask? How is a face mask different than a face covering? We've got a lot of definitions on this. A face mask is, is, is a surgical mask. It's the medical mask. If they're wearing a respirator or a face mask, they don't have to wear a face covering. This is under the regs. And where you can show that wearing a face covering is infeasible, that's the word, or it creates a greater hazard that would excuse compliance. So face covering has got to be this thing that's, you know, double woven and fully covering your face. And, and that's what has to be incorporated. That's what a face covering is. The face mask is the, is the surgical mask. A respirator is the N95. You have to ensure that, that the employee is using the face covering properly. Worn over their nose and mouth. It's replaced when it's wet soiled or damaged, ripped holes, broken ear lobes. You can't prevent employees who want to wear, these are the vaccinated employees, who want to voluntarily wear a face covering or face masks, unless you can demonstrate it's a bad thing to do. You have to permit employees to wear a respirator instead of a face covering. And you can't prohibit your customers and visitors wearing face coverings. It does not require you to pay for the costs associated with face coverings, meaning, but payment may be required by locally. So it doesn't require you to, the standard doesn't require you to pay for the face masks, but you want to consult with your lawyers if you decide you're not going to do it. So what do you have to provide to your employees? Employers must provide each employee in language and at a literacy level, the employee understands the following, what the requirements are of the rule, your policies and procedures, and why COVID-19 vaccines are efficacious. They're safe and the benefits by providing the CDC document key things, and there it is, it's linked so you can have it. So you have to give this, you have to physically provide this information to your employees. If you are a covered employer, meaning you have a hundred or more employees, you must also inform each of your employees in a language and at a literacy level, they understand about the non-discrimination requirements of the federal rule and the OSHA act, which prohibits you from discharging them or discriminating against them for reporting for, for beefing, right? For, for, for saying you are not complying with OSHA. And you have to provide them with the code provisions that say there are criminal penalties associated if they knowingly supply you with false statements or documentation, meaning if they provide you with false evidence of a vaccination. So there are policy templates, there's the mandatory vaccination sample policy, there's the vaccination or testing face covering sample, and there are also fact sheets in both English and Spanish that are provided, that are available by OSHA that you should use as a basis to assist you in writing. Now these templates are templates and there's lots of spots that need to be filled in and you need to take great, pay great attention to what you write in those spots because those are the spots that OSHA is going to pay attention to. So reporting and record keeping, what do you have to do? Well, covered employers, you have to report to OSHA if you have a COVID-19 fatality and you learn about it. Got to do that in eight hours, within eight hours, or if you learn that somebody acquired COVID-19 in the workplace and they've been hospitalized, you have to report that to OSHA. Those apply regardless of when the fatality of the inpatient hospitalization occurs. So the normal reporting standards require work-related hospitalizations, 24 hours for hospitalization and 30 days for a fatality. Availability of records, covered employers must make individual vaccine information and test results available to the employee and anyone having written consent. So if an employee says, I want my vaccine information, you have to give it to them and you have to do that by the end of the next business day after the request. Or if a lawyer asks for that, you have to provide it. You also have to make available the aggregate number of fully vaccinated employees at the workplace and the total number employees of employees at the workplace. So to any employee or employee representative by the end of the next business day and to OSHA if they ask within four business hours. So what they want to be able to do with this data is make the determination as to the percentage of those in your workplace that are vaccinated. So what's the total number and what's the total number of vaccinated? And that doesn't it doesn't excuse those people who work remotely, who work alone, who don't visit. They're all going to be figured in the aggregate number. So you have to recognize that in terms of the percentage. Covered employees also have to make the written vaccination policy available to OSHA within four business hours of the request. And you have to make all other records and documents available to OSHA by the next business day after a request. So you have to make your written vaccination policy available to OSHA within four hours and everything else by the end of business the next day. So what's the plan for compliance? And then forgive me for going over a little bit, but I think these are the most important pieces. So these are the items I'm going to consider, have you consider, and then I'll be available to answer questions. I'm not going to read the list. I'm just going to tell you what they are. So the first consideration you have to make is, are you a covered employer? Are we a covered employer? And if we are, are we in a state where there's state OSHA that governs or what are we are in a state where federal OSHA governs and know which one you're going to have to apply. And then you should do an employee survey. If you are covered and you can do this and you can do this as a survey to say to your employees, if you don't know this information, are you fully vaccinated? And if we mandate vaccination, are you going to quit or are you going to stay with us? And the reason for this, it will help you to assess whether or not you're going to offer a testing option because while a testing option may appear to be benevolent and may appear to be fair, it is a lot more requirements from an administrative perspective to you. So it will also help you to develop your communication plan because if you determine that most of the people in your, in your, in your workforce are fully vaccinated, then you don't need to have a testing plan. Or if you determine that they are, it might be easy to comply with a testing plan. And if you find out that a large number of people say, if you mandate vaccines or testing, we are going to quit. It will help you to determine what you're going to do and communicate with your workforce. So you have to consider, are we going to do a vaccine mandate or are we going to do the, are we going to do the hybrid mandate testing plus masking? So you have to determine, will you adopt the mandatory vaccination policy or allow unvaccinated employees to be tested weekly? And again, for some employers collecting and tracking weekly test results may be a burden and that may force you to adopt a mandatory vaccination policy. You have to then come up with a plan for accommodation requests. So if you are adopting a mandatory vaccine policy, you have to develop a clear, reasonable accommodation policy to address the medical disability and the religious issues. If you are going to allow for testing, will you offer testing as an option? If you are going to offer testing as an option, where will the testing be? So you need to do some considerations. Is it going to be near your workplace? Is there, what are the hours? What are the procedures? What, how long will it take for you to get those test results? And does the place that you suggest an employee go have the capacity to handle your workforce? So all of these considerations, you need to take the next 30 days to figure out. And which tests are you going to accept? Are you going to accept the rapid tests, only PCR tests? Are you going to, are you going to accept the over-the-counter tests that are observed by you or by a telehealth provider? Recognize that those with COVID-19 symptoms likely have a more fair test results with a rapid test. The PCR tests tend to indicate those people who are showing no symptoms. So they're asymptomatic, but are COVID positive. And again, who's going to pay for the testing? Does the employer, does your work, does your health insurer pay for this? I will tell you that very often the health insurers will not pay for this because this testing is not medically necessary. It's employment necessary. So will the coverage provider pay for it? Will you pay for it? Or will you mandate that the employee pay for it? If you mandate that the employee pay for it, you have to consider whether or not this is going to impact federal minimum wage laws. Because if the test, if the cost of the test will mean that the employee falls below the minimum wage, it's likely an unlawful consideration. So you need to plan for testing accommodation requests. Not only will your employees say, I'm a true believer and now I can't be tested because my religion doesn't let me or doesn't let me get vaccinated, they may also say, I can't be tested because my religion won't let me be tested. You have to think about what are you going to go through for those people who ask for a medical test waiver, an ABA waiver, or those who request a waiver based on religion. Then you need to consider a plan for tracking those test results. If you are going to allow individuals who are not fully vaccinated to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing in lieu of vaccination, you have to have a plan in place to collect and track those results, making sure that you maintain the confidential nature of those medical records. You also have to consider the costs. What are the costs going to be for those to receive the vaccine? Remember, they're entitled to be paid for scheduling, completing the paperwork, receiving the shot, and traveling to and from the shot, up to four hours of paid time. They're also allowed to recover from the vaccine. You're going to ask them to use PTO, or the state law may mandate that they be paid, and the acceptable range there is two days after each dosage. Also, time off considerations to test. Are you going to make your employees who are going to use the testing opt-out to go during work hours, or are you going to make them go after work hours, during non-work hours? Does your state law mandate that because of the status as exempt versus non-exempt, do they have to be paid while they're undergoing that testing? Will you make them use PTO in the event of having to go for a test? All of those things need to be considered. Next, you have to consider your policy. What are the requirements? You have to lay out the contents of your policy. I told you there are template policies, but what we haven't talked about here are the consequences for non-compliance. You know what the fines are to you as an employer, 14 grand, but what's the consequences to an employee who works for you, who's a covered employee, for not complying with the policy? And my recommendation to you is consult with legal counsel, but saying that they will be terminated for cause, for violating company policy, if they refuse to either get vaccinated or if you don't allow for a testing and masking policy. And you should state that they would be in violation of a company policy because likely under your state laws, they will be ineligible for unemployment compensation insurance because they will be determined to be fired for cause for violating a company policy. You should also prepare for OSHA complaints and inspections. This rule will not displace current compliance duties, so you should make sure that social distancing, masking, sanitizing, other safety steps that are already required by OSHA and CDC are still in place, and those things that are in place under your state and local public health orders remain in effect. You should look to see. They will ask for your response plan and your records. If you receive a complaint or they conduct an inspection concerning the vaccine mandate, you should train your managers and supervisors on what to do and say if OSHA arrives, and those efforts will save you from paying significant fines. I'm going to end by reminding you about AED's wonderful program called Call Counsel. The folks here at Erdoğuruz are your general counsel, are AED's general counsel. When you have a legal question, you can pick up the phone. We're staffed by us to answer these questions by our offices in Chicago, and we have a network of lawyers nationwide. We give you guidance on commercial employment litigation-based questions, and it's a free and exclusive benefit to AED members. There's strict confidentiality to call, so I don't call and tell your regional manager, Mr. Fischer, what's going on at your workplace, so you don't have to worry about that, so we encourage you to do that. I, or Mark Kimsey, or Molly Wirwas, will provide you with some information, and we'll give you some answers. So I give you our contact information here, and I will ask Mr. Fischer that if there are any questions, that I'm happy to answer them now. Well, thank you, Michael. You sure covered a lot, and I don't want to hold everyone too long, but there are a few questions, and I'm going to kind of consolidate some of them for the purpose of everyone's time, but of course, feel free to reach out to Michael or myself. If there are further questions, if you reach out to me, I'll certainly forward them on to Michael. Let's talk a bit, just briefly, about the stay. So your recommendation is that employers should proceed as if this rule is going to go into effect on December 6th, as it is written currently. Is that correct? Yeah, so that's right. So there's a stay, and I would not encourage anybody to rely upon that stay. I would take advantage. Remember, the rule's in effect unless it's in those places, and there has really not been an answer, Daniel, about whether or not it affects only those states that are in the Fifth Circuit or whether or not it affects every state. So I do not, as a conservative, as a person who gives you conservative legal advice, I tell you to not plan on that stay being in place, but to get ready now and to go through this analysis now. Because, I mean, ultimately, this thing is probably going to end up in the Supreme Court at some point, and that will be the final decision, I'm sure. Right, right, and the biggest issue is going to be whether or not, from my perspective, whether or not, as an executive, does the executive branch have the power to mandate these rules, or is this something Congress ought to entail? And there are a lot of, you know, the most recent Supreme Court appointees who are very interested in that concept, that's the power of agencies. So it'll be interesting to find out how it ends up, and this will be an interesting challenge, but I certainly say that, for now, I suspect that even if it ends up in the Supreme Court, that will likely happen by the court, and again, this is speculation, that the Supreme Court will lift any stay of enforcement and allow for it, the law to be in place because of the temporary nature of it. Let's see, and just so everyone knows, these slides, as well as the presentation, will be available and circulated to all participants shortly after we conclude. So now I'm gonna kind of take it through a little bit on, mainly in chronological order, kind of as you covered it here. So the 100 employees, 10 stores with over 100 employees, but no location has over 100, would you still be required to follow the mandate? Yeah, that's an easy one. That's a layup, yes. So it doesn't matter. If you're a sunglass hut, and you have two employees in every state in the union, but because you sell sunglasses, you comply. It doesn't matter. If you're a franchise and a franchisor, different rules, but they're not gonna allow, so the rule says we're not gonna allow you to parse out locations. You have to do a whole compilation, and they're gonna err on the side of inclusion versus exclusion. So I strongly encourage you to say, even if you have multiple locations in multiple states of varying numbers of employees, if all of those employees were accounted, take you over the threshold of 100, you count. All right. And then similarly, are employees of a wholly owned subsidiary with a separate tax ID number included in the 100 employee threshold? So the separate tax ID number is not gonna govern this assessment. As I said earlier, you're gonna look at whether or not if you were to, if OSHA were to have looked at you for any other issue, you're gonna, if you deal with that separately held company by providing safety mandates and other safety protocols, risk management to that operation, if you provide that information to that wholly owned subsidiary, you are going to be, they're gonna be deemed employees that factor into your count. So I strongly encourage you to consult with legal counsel if you intend to use any of those kind of, I'd say machinations in order to try to not qualify to determine whether or not your lawyer would think that that will get you out of this mandate. All right. And so what about customers? Are you responsible for your customers that enter your shop to make sure that they're vaccinated? I'm assuming you have to make sure they're masked, if not, or? No, so you don't have to, so they're encouraging. So the OSHA encourages you to encourage your clients, your customers to be vaccinated and to mask, but that's up to the individual business to determine whether or not they're gonna do business with a customer who's unvaccinated and unmasked or untested. But it doesn't mandate that you have to deter, that you have to say, you can't come in here or we can't do business with you because you're unmasked or unvaccinated. That does not, that's mandate, this temporary standard does not govern that responsibility. So that's a very good question. Employers do not have to police customers. As far as a violation under the ETS, I believe you said that every violation you encounter is a separate $14,000 or could be a separate $14,000 fine. So it's not just, I mean, there's, it could be a separate fine. You can be fined over and over again if you don't have a policy in place. If you don't have, if you're fined not be compliant, you can be fined for every employee that's not compliant, right? Or is that? Exactly right, that's exactly right. So it's up to that $13,643 for every instance of it. And we can expect that early on, OSHA is gonna try to make a point of this standard by levying some very hefty fines. All right, let's, and then I think we have a number of people from California on this, and you talked about the supremacy of the ETS. For one, there's one question regarding the federal contractor mandate. And it's clear federal contractor mandate takes precedence over this ETS. So if you fall under the federal contractor mandate, you do not comply with this ETS, correct? Right, and the idea there is that it's equally as strict. Right. And it may even be, you know, there are no opt-out for many of those people. The testing opt-out doesn't exist. So yes, that's correct. And then as far as California, I guess, or any states paid sick leave, are you able to use that for paying for time off as a result of the vaccine or? So if your state or local regulations provide greater protections to your employees, then you are mandated to comply with those greater protections. So just recognize that as a principle. So these are workplace rules that are designed to protect the American workforce. So the precedence is, or the preference, or the focus is on the worker. And so if there are greater protections, greater stringent requirements in the individual state or locality, then you have to comply with those more stringent requirements and greater protections. Al, let's go to, you said that you have to show proof of that. First of all, whose burden is it to make sure that the proof of vaccination is actually real? Is that an employer or the employee? Very good question. If you, we don't, so the guidance says, we're not expecting you to be Inspector Crusoe. It doesn't say that. But it doesn't expect an employer to be delving into whether or not it's fraudulent, that the representations are fraudulent. So the burden is on the employee to present you with information. And unless you're presented with a vaccination card that has the spelling of the vaccine wrong, or it doesn't match what you've seen, you can accept that as being a valid representation. But if you have reason to believe that the information that's being presented, or if people are squawking, clocking, right? They're saying, to hell with this, I'm gonna give them a fake one. My brother-in-law gave me this one. And you have actual knowledge of that, the HR people know that, then I would say you're on notice to take further action. But you can accept legitimate, you can accept as legitimate and authentic the information that's provided to you by your employer, by your employee. And similarly, you mentioned this, I just had a question, just wanna reiterate that you have to maintain the record of the actual copies of the cards, as well as negative test results until at least May 5th. That's right, very good. And OSHA can come in and ask for that. And again, the good point to just reiterate, that can't be kept in the employee's personnel file, it has to be kept segregated as it's a medical record. So you have to take all the necessary precautions to protect against disclosure and to maintain confidentiality. And then as far as the religious exemption, I guess what is considered proof of a religious exemption? I know, yes, I guess it has to be a good faith religious exemption, right? But I guess, again, whose burden is that on? Yeah, you have to engage, again, it's a process and you have to engage in an interactive process. So it has to be a sincerely held religious belief. And so there's a whole lot of back and forth that you have to undergo. And if this group is interested in just focusing in on the process for accommodations under the ADA and the religious exemption, I think we can spend some time, because for me to give you a very short kind of quick answer on that might be difficult. But what I say is that it has to be a sincerely held religious belief. And then the person has to come forward and present to you that they want an accommodation. And is that accommodation something that can be done? Can you comply with it? And unlike the medical disability, the religious disability is a slight burden. It has to be, if it burdens you more than a minimal disruption, then you can deny the accommodation request. But if the person came to you and said, listen, I don't wanna get this because I don't believe in it, and they come to you wearing a let's go Brandon shirt, and then they come in a week later and say, well, I belong to this new faith. I don't believe in it. Those are the things that you can say, is that a sincerely held religious belief? Or is this just another way for you to get out of the mandate? And the reality is that if a person isn't gonna be vaccinated, they still have to be tested. And- So do you wear your let's go Brandon t-shirt to Lollapalooza when you show your vaccine card? That's right. All right, I'm just gonna do a couple more questions here. And I know there are more coming in, but please just email myself or Michael and we'll try to get those addressed as soon as possible. One of them has to do, so how does the vaccine mandate interact with the union bargaining and collective bargaining? Yeah, so that's playing out right out on those streets here in the city of Chicago, as we speak in terms of how it's gonna apply. The way in which OSHA answers that is, they say, oh, you should certainly work with your labor force in order to bargain what considerations ought to be in place. But so, and you can have more stringent requirements, safer workplaces and your union employment contract, your collective bargaining agreement can mandate that. But you can't collective bargain less restrict, less restrictive, less stringent standards. So you need to engage in that process. And the reality is that if there is an arbitration provision that exists in your labor contract, you may likely have to raise that arbitration provision and go into it and start working through that process through an arbitrator who will likely be aware of the obligations that a covered employer has to comply with such that the employer will be okay and in the clear. So you certainly should consider that. You should work with labor council in order to assess those considerations. All right, and I'm gonna end with this question here. Again, I know I didn't get to all of them, but we are out of time and we'll certainly do follow up and send your questions to us as well. But would a shop that is more or less open air, so say a large roll up doors qualify as outdoor, so essentially a garage. And then following up on that, does a field service truck that is in the field full time qualify as outdoors? I think the answer is that as long as you're not riding with someone else in that car, right? It's kind of, or in that truck, but. So I would say the answer to both of those questions is right, is, well, a overhead door open and three walls and a ceiling isn't gonna comply as exclusively outdoors. They make that very clear. So I believe that that's not gonna, I know that was a question we had beforehand. I thought I tried to answer that by showing you what that exclusively outdoors means. It really isn't exclusively outdoors. Now, does that person riding in the truck alone, does that person count towards the number of employees for covered employee? Employer, yes. Now, if that employee doesn't come into the shop, is always out in the field, no, then he doesn't have to comply, then that person doesn't have to comply with the rules. But if they're going to a workplace to fix a machine where there are others, where there are other employees, where there are customers, then he does have to comply with the workplace rules because he's gonna interact with other people. So if it happens to be that this person goes to a remote site where nobody ever is and he's repairing this outside and nobody's around and he rides, then I say, no, but otherwise he does have to comply with the mandates of this ETS. All right, well, Michael, let's stop there. We could kind of get into, and this could last a whole nother five hours probably with questions and all the complications that are arising from this mandate here. But again, please everyone send in your questions to Michael or myself, as well as utilize AAD's call council line. The number is right there as well, 312-506-4480. Michael, thank you so much for taking the time. Excellent presentation. Maybe not what all of us wanted to hear, but certainly excellent advice and certainly excellent guidance as we kind of move forward and see what happens as this mandate winds its way through court. So with that, thank you everyone for joining. Again, we will circulate the recording of the webinar as well as the slides. And just please be in touch, stay tuned to AAD. Things can change very quickly as regards to this. And certainly we'll be putting out more information and more possibly webinars as we get closer to that December 6th date. So with that, have a great day. And talk to you guys very soon. Thank you.

OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard

COVID-19 vaccination

COVID-19 testing requirements

employers with 100 or more employees

compliance options

vaccination

weekly testing

masking

written policies

employee vaccination status

reporting requirements

record-keeping requirements