Do this while waiting for OSHA
Do this while waiting for OSHA
Welcome to another edition of Need to Knows, your three times a week morning newsletter from the Charles River Regional Chamber.
It looks like another week will go by without knowing the rules behind President Biden’s "vaccine-or-test" rules for large employers (and others).
Biden announced the mandate, which carry fines up to $14,000 per incident, on Sept. 9.
But the specifics -- called “the emergency temporary standard” in government speak -- are still being written by OSHA and, according to some reports, may not be released for another month or more.
It's only a pandemic. No rush.
And that’s if it survives legal challenges, even though the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of vax mandates more than 100 years ago.
But there's still things employers can do to prepare
For starters, you should develop a process to comply with medical and religious exemptions that won't running afoul of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or civil rights law, recommends Ty West for the BBJ.
Many businesses may have some past experience with medical exemptions from having implemented disability-related accommodations.
But religious exemptions are trickier and a lot more controversial, as we learned from this week from Kay Lazar at the Globe or, for example, from this report in L.A. where 2,600 police department employees are citing religious objections.
The Globe’s editorial board weighed in too.
In all cases, managers with little or no HR training will need to know what questions they’re allowed, and not allowed, to ask.
But wait, there’s more! (There's always more)
Among other questions, you will also need a process for tracking vaccination status and how booster shots may fit in with compliance.
Since Biden’s plan is actually a WEEKLY TEST MANDATE WITH A VACCINE OPT-OUT (still can't believe how many reporters get that wrong!), you will need to develop a weekly testing program too, unless you establish your own vax mandate, which you can do now.
And yes, you’ll probably have to implement all these policies remotely, or with at least some of your workers remote, and perhaps even with employees you've never met in person.
Which is why Beth Teitell’s latest column makes about as much sense right now as anything else.
Women’s pay gap narrowed but not for good reasons
The pay disparity between women and men shrank slightly in 2020 but, writes Caitlin Mullen at Bizwoman, “don’t celebrate yet.”
Women working full-time, year-round earned 74 cents for every dollar men made last year, up 2 cents over 2019, according to Gusto.
“On paper, it looks like women’s relative earnings jumped,” Gusto economist Luke Pardue told Insider. “What actually happened was women in low-wage, service-sector jobs left the workforce at significantly higher rates than women with higher-earning, professional sector jobs.”
Gusto estimates women’s lost earnings were about $44 billion more than men’s.
Cannabis shop looks to lighten restrictions
Newtonville marijuana dispensary Garden Remedies is one step closer to increasing its store hours and eliminating the city’s appointment-only requirement following approval from the Land Use Committee, reports Julie Cohen at Wicked Local.
If approved, by the entire City Council, Garden Remedies would be open Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays, noon to 6 p.m.
State grants businesses tax break reprieve
Businesses that had been approved for a Massachusetts tax break program based on hiring goals have been granted a one-year reprieve because of the economic devastation caused by the pandemic, reports Greg Ryan at the BBJ.
More than 50 businesses fell at least 30% short of their job-creation targets in 2020, a key threshold. The tax incentive is set up to work such that businesses must retain or create a specified number of jobs each year, or risk losing the break.
Get out this weekend
- After a year off due to the pandemic, the Watertown Faire on the Square returns this Saturday, Sept. 25, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Saltonstall Park (next to Town Hall). Watertown News has more.
- The Charles River YMCA in Needham is hosting a "Gratitude on the Green" Gala this Saturday (Sept .25) at 6:30 pm. Featuring food trucks, live music, beverages, auctions and raffle -- all to support members of our community who benefit from financial assistance for YMCA programs and services . Raffle and online silent auction winners do not need to be present to win.
- Newtonville Village Day is this Sunday (Sept. 26) 1 to 4 p.m. on Walnut Street in Newtonville Center. Newton Upper Falls Village Day is next Sunday, Oct. 3, as is the chamber-organized Needham Harvest Fair.
Whoops
I included a bad link for this yesterday (it's correct below).
- Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital - Needham is conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment to understand the unmet health needs in the community. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. For every 200 completed surveys, one name will be drawn to receive a $100 virtual Visa gift card.
Have you been wondering this too?
Does your mask protect you even if if nobody around you is wearing one? How well do different types of masks protect you from the Delta variant?
This New York Times article does a nice job answering those and other questions.
There's also that knot and tuck recommendation from the CDC.
I hope they got their ‘I’ve been vaccinated’ sticker
Lions, tigers and gorillas were among the first to get their COVID vaccines at clinics at the Franklin Park and Stone Zoos this week, (WBUR).
“While we have not had any cases of COVID-19 with the animals at Zoo New England’s Franklin Park Zoo and Stone Zoo, this vaccine is an important preventative health measure to protect species that are susceptible to contracting the virus,” said Dr. Chris Bonar, senior veterinarian in Zoo New England’s Animal Health Department in a statement.
More than 11,000 doses of animal vaccine developed by Zoetis are being distributed nearly 70 zoos and other facilities.
And that's today's need to knows, unless you need to know where you can find a vending machine that dispenses short stories.
Have a great weekend. Be back Tuesday.
Greg Reibman (he, him)
President & CEO
617.244.1688
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