But many local businesses that are less open to the public have been slower to announce changes, particularly in relation to office workers who are still working from home for now.
Employers can make vaccinations mandatory, the federal Equal Opportunity Commission wrote in December, but must accommodate workers with firmly held religious beliefs or medical conditions that preclude vaccination.
So far, only a few large companies have accepted the EEOC’s offer. In a survey conducted earlier this year by the Society of Human Resource Management, just 5% of employers said they would need the vaccine for some or all employees, while 60% said they didn’t.
Delta Air Lines made headlines last week after CEO Ed Bastian announced his company would become one of the largest in the country, which requires new employees to be vaccinated. But many employers who have considered such a requirement, including the city of Sandy Springs, have balked due to potential health information privacy headaches.
“We looked at this and felt that there are HIPAA, morality and privacy issues that we cannot overcome,” Mayor Rusty Paul said Tuesday on Georgia Public Broadcasting, referring to the portability law and Health insurance accountability.
Some companies have instead aimed to encourage employees to receive the vaccine rather than mandating it. Kroger is offering $100 in bonuses to workers, while Walmart recently announced it would pay $75 to employees who produce their original, completed vaccination card.
Some employers, like the city of East Point, have opted to maintain their mask requirement. Mayor Deana Holiday Ingraham said vaccine reluctance among the region’s majority and minority populations is an important factor.
“We need to make sure we’re really listening to the needs of our community and not ignoring inequalities and the way this virus has disproportionately impacted communities of color,” she said in GPB’s Political Rewind. “So we stand firm.”
The city of Atlanta will continue to require masks indoors in buildings owned or leased by the city government. On Monday, Decatur city leaders decided to extend their mandate through June 21 to give children over 12 who were recently cleared for vaccination time to get vaccinated. Clarkston also doesn’t plan to reevaluate her mask mandate until the summer.
Dunwoody rescinded his mandate late last week, citing the declining number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county. Doraville will also consider lifting all pandemic-related measures at its meeting on Wednesday.
DiscoverGeorgians, businesses reconsider routines as CDC relaxes COVID rules
In addition to considering CDC guidance, employers must also consider state and local regulations and regulations from the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which regulate workplace safety and can issue subpoenas — and fines — for companies that fail to comply.
OSHA hasn’t updated its COVID guidance since January, and said Monday it was still reviewing the CDC’s guidance. However, it is illegal to treat unvaccinated workers differently from vaccinated colleagues.
The latter could be a major sticking point as companies devise plans to allow vaccinated workers to be exposed. Unvaccinated employees, who are easily identifiable because they would wear masks and social distancing, could be harassed by colleagues for refusing to be vaccinated. This could lead to discrimination lawsuits and declining morale.
“What happens when your star player says, ‘I can’t get a vaccine.’ Are you going to fire her?” said Todd Stanton, director of Stanton Law LLC, which advises many small and medium-sized businesses. “What happens when your A player says (Yes) and your B player says ‘I don’t want one’ and you make an exception for him?”
Observers say it may take a few weeks for companies to sort out their plans for returning to the office.
“The most conservative approach is that we just keep going for a while until this all has time to materialize,” said Fisher Phillips’ Stewart.
Stanton said small and medium-sized businesses, particularly those that only have locations in Georgia, may have an easier time clarifying their COVID policies than multi-state Fortune 500 companies.
“Coke and UPS and Home Depot, these guys need to come up with a pretty consistent policy that works for a lot of different groups and demographics,” he said. “Whereas a mom and pop business, a gym, or a 30-person manufacturing company may be a little more bespoke in their approach.”
Some of the area’s largest employers, including Northside Hospital, Wellstar and Piedmont Healthcare, are likely to see few changes as the latest CDC guidelines maintain masking and other COVID safety requirements for healthcare facilities. The same applies to workers at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport and on board aircraft, where masks are still mandatory.
At CDC’s Atlanta campus, fully vaccinated employees in government facilities are no longer required to wear masks, a spokeswoman said, but did not answer questions about social distancing or whether the CDC is limiting the number of employees in its buildings.
-Contributors Zachary Hansen, Wilborn P. Nobles III, Kelly Yamanouchi, and Lois Norder contributed to this article.
