Covid-19 Employer Vaccination Programs Could Be Sought by OSHA

When a Covid-19 vaccine becomes widely available, OSHA could turn to part of a 50-year-old federal law to encourage employers to offer inoculations to workers, attorneys say.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration couldn’t mandate employers provide vaccinations or require workers to accept them, said Charlotte, N.C.-based attorney Travis Vance, a member of Fisher Phillips L.L.P.’s Covid-19 team.

But OSHA could, in theory, use the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to cite any employer who didn’t offer Covid-19 vaccines, said Vance.

And because OSHA doesn’t have a rule for airborne diseases like ...