Illinois union workplaces have to comply with federal COVID-19 vaccine or testing

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) emergency temporary standard (ETS) that mandates the COVID-19 vaccine or weekly testing for employees of large companies nationwide is now in effect.

Under the ETS, private employers with 100 or more employees will be required to check that all workers have been vaccinated by January 4, 2022.

Within 60 days of Friday, Nov. 5, an alternative weekly testing program must also be set-up by employers.

Springfield employment attorney Carl Draper explains that Illinois is one of 26 states that has an OSHA-approved state plan that covers public employees. In other words, Illinois must mirror the federal ETS for government bodies that employ more than 100 people.

“While the state of Illinois enforces it, the state plan has to be as least as effective as the federal law. So, Illinois is going to be following this,” Draper said.

The Department of Labor is also very clear that union workplaces will also have to comply with the ETS.

David Amerson is a staff attorney with the Policemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Labor Committee, a union that represents law enforcement and local government employees across the state. Amerson says that while unionized workplace must follow the ETS, it doesn’t mean that their collective bargaining rights have gone out the window.

“To the extent that the law is constitutional or otherwise enforceable, than there’s not a whole lot that a union can do other than bargain the effects of it,” Amerson said. “Generally, this is good for unions because we are now finally going to have some uniform guidance about what’s supposed to happen.”

Amerson says unions will be able to negotiate things like the cost of testing and masks, time off, or even enact a stricter policy than the ETS altogether.

He believes this move from OSHA will squeeze the labor market even further and make it more difficult for employers to find workers. On the flipside, he says it’s a great job market for workers that do comply.

The vaccine or weekly testing mandate was first announced by President Joe Biden in September. It will cover 84 million private sector employees nationwide.