As has often been the case during the pandemic, mixed messages have been communicated to municipal leaders regarding deadlines to implement the OSHA Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”).
Although federal OSHA ETS requirements were initially stayed by a federal circuit court, that stay was lifted by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. That decision will be honored by all federal circuit courts so that the next court to consider its legality should be the US Supreme Court. That will take some time. Meanwhile, OSHA is beginning to implement the ETS program and has advised private employers that it may begin issuing enforcement citations on January 10 for noncompliance with ETS requirements and on February 9 for noncompliance with any testing requirements. Since federal OHSA applies to private businesses, Connecticut businesses are subject to those ETS requirements. But you should understand that these federal OSHA requirements and deadlines do not yet apply to Connecticut or any other state or municipal government.
It is only a matter of time before those protocols or stricter protocols will be imposed here because Connecticut is a state that adopted its own OSHA approved plan that includes coverage of state and local government employees. As a state with an OSHA approved plan, Connecticut is now obligated to amend its state plan to require state and local governments to implement an ETS program that is at least as strict as the federal program. It is not clear whether the governor will act under emergency powers to make that change while the formal plan modification process goes forward or whether he will simply allow that process to take its course. But until the Connecticut plan is amended, your town government is not mandated to implement ETS. We will update this message when there is further guidance and direction regarding the amendment to the state plan and the timing of the applicability of the ETS requirements to towns and cities in Connecticut.