Here’s what you need to know about the new rule, Iowa’s new law, and what happens next.
Workers at businesses with more than 100 employees must be vaccinated for COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing starting Jan.4, under a new federal rule released Thursday. The new details immediately prompted an outcry from Republican leaders in Iowa who oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and Gov. Kim Reynolds vowed to sue over the requirement. Once in effect, the new rule could cover more than 923,000 Iowa employees who work for 2,200 businesses. In Iowa, employers must now navigate the new regulations, as well as a brand-new state law that the Iowa Legislature passed last week in anticipation of the federal rule. The law attempted to soften some of the effects of the rule by requiring employers to accept religious and medical exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine while also extending unemployment benefits to those fired for not complying with vaccine mandates. Here’s what you need to know about the new rule, Iowa’s new law, and what happens next. The new federal rule will apply to workers at businesses with 100 or more employees. Employers could be slapped with penalties of up to $13,600 per violation if they don’t comply. The rule doesn’t apply to people who work from home, but it would require testing for unvaccinated hybrid workers if they’re reporting to the office during a given week. In Iowa, the rule also appears to apply to state and local government employers with 100 or more employees, including teachers and school staff. That’s because Iowa is among 21 states that have the option of writing their own workplace rules for public and private sector workers. But those rules can’t be weaker than what the federal government is requiring – and must be adopted in 30 days. A spokesperson for Reynolds did not comment Thursday on whether the state plans to follow the requirements for state employees. Workers are considered fully vaccinated if they have taken two doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson, by Jan.4. Employers must give employees paid time off to get vaccinated and recover from side effects. More: Iowa will get more than 99,000 COVID vaccines for kids 5-11 this week Currently,68% of Iowans 18 and older are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. But there has been significant resistance among the remaining Iowans who are unvaccinated. A September Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll found one in four Iowa adults does not plan to take the vaccine. The rule allows workers to undergo weekly testing as an alternative, although they may have to bear the cost of the testing themselves. The rule would also require unvaccinated employees wear a face mask on the job beginning Dec.5. Businesses can be tougher than the rules require and can mandate workers get vaccinated, rather than giving them the option of regular testing. More: Gov. Kim Reynolds says she ‘will take immediate legal action’ on Biden’s vaccine mandate Simply put: Yes and yes. But the details of how the federal exemption process will interact with a new Iowa law that involves religious exemptions remain somewhat murky. Religious and medical exemptions for employee vaccination requirements have already been allowed under federal law.
