Omicron Could Force Many Workers Who Test Positive to Quarantine under Federal Mandate, Intensifying Labor Shortages
The NBA, NFL and NHL have been hit with a rash of COVID outbreaks in recent weeks, leaving teams with depleted rosters and postponing some games, while college football has been forced to cancel a few bowl games.
Now imagine similar scenarios playing out at many restaurants, stores, hotels and factories across the U.S.
A federal mandate for companies with 100 or more employees to ensure they’re vaccinated or tested weekly could worsen severe worker shortages—if it’s upheld in court—by forcing staffers who test positive to quarantine even if they have no symptoms, employment lawyers say.
[...]
Also, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated workers who come into close contact with an infected coworker take a COVID test within five to seven days and quarantine if they test positive, says Gus Sandstrom, an employment lawyer at Blank Rome in Philadelphia.
“This is a material concern given the transmissibility of the omicron variant,” Sandstrom says.
To read the full article, please click here.
“Omicron Could Force Many Workers Who Test Positive to Quarantine under Federal Mandate, Intensifying Labor Shortages,” by Paul Davidson, was published in USA Today on December 28, 2021.