There are less than two months until Christmas, and the holiday shopping season is already starting to heat up, despite potential supply chain challenges and labor shortages.
But businesses around the U.S. worry that the busiest shopping period of the year could come to a screeching halt if the Biden administration releases its long-awaited vaccine mandate and testing rules.
Last month, Biden called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) that would require private businesses with at least 100 employees to put vaccine mandates in place. Biden’s directive stipulated that unlike federal employees and contractors, private businesses could also provide an option for weekly COVID-19 testing.
With the mandate set to affect as many as 80 million Americans, business groups like the Retail Industry Leaders Association want the Biden administration to delay its rule until after the holiday season. The group has argued for a 90-day implementation period. “That would get us into 2022 and beyond the holiday season so at least we wouldn’t have that extra strain in the Q4 holiday season,” says Evan Armstrong, a member of RILA’s government affairs team.
“We really questioned the necessity of a federal standard, and if they’re going to do it, we’ve asked for a very, very long implementation period,” says Ed Egee, the National Retail Federation’s vice president of government relations and workforce development. Egee added that NRF members have undertaken “unprecedented steps” over the past 18 months to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, but says a federal vaccine mandate is likely not going to move the needle nationwide but a few percentage points.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable also advocated for delaying the rule until after the holiday retail season, according to CNBC.
“This is an obviously very complicated rule that has a lot of challenges, and the challenges are heightened if it comes out during the holiday season, which is obviously crucial for retail,” Armstrong of RILA tells Fortune.
It may not be an unreasonable request either, considering that the Biden administration gave federal contractors a roughly 10-week deadline to comply. Vaccinating employees also takes time. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, for example, require a waiting period between doses, plus two weeks after the final dose for recipients to be considered “fully vaccinated.”
However, under the law governing OSHA’s ETS authority, a rule can go into effect the day it’s published. After that, it’s in effect for six months, and then OSHA would need to follow up with a final version of the rule.
About 28 states operate their own individual state plans, which are OSHA-approved workplace safety and health programs. Those states will be required to implement equally protective rules within 30 days, though they may include slight variations.
Not only are companies fearful that the rule will disrupt operations and supply chains at a critical time, but businesses also worry that employees will walk off the job.
Nearly nine out of 10 employers, or 87% of companies, in the packaged goods industry reported feeling concerned about challenges attracting talent or losing employees to employers that are not subject to vaccine requirements, according to a poll the Consumer Brands Association completed last week among its represented companies. Members include major brands such as the Clorox Co., General Mills, the J.M. Smucker Co., and PepsiCo.
“What has got them most concerned, and we hear this from a lot of different companies and all types of different industries, is the threat of losing employees. That is the thing that has really got them unnerved,” says Marc Freedman, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vice president of workplace policy.
About 60% of the 45 companies surveyed by the Consumer Brands Association say they are already starting to draft their vaccination and testing plans. And in most of these policies, according to the poll, companies expect to include their temporary employees and contractors in the requirements as well.
Currently, about 59% of companies involved in consumer packaged goods offer on-site vaccination, and 66% offer on-site COVID testing. And while it’s still unknown who will end up paying for testing and vaccinations under OSHA’s new mandates, about 55% of those polled expect their companies to bear the financial responsibility for employees who choose regular testing.
More health care and Big Pharma coverage from Fortune:
- Foreign travelers to the U.S. will need to be vaccinated and present a negative COVID test before entering starting Nov. 8
- Florida Governor DeSantis offers $5,000 bonus to lure anti-vax police from out of state
- Who is eligible for a Moderna booster?
- Thera-who? These biotech firms are looking to push what’s possible with blood
- 3 states limit nursing home profits in bid to improve care
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