“Anticipated EEOC Guidance on COVID-19 Policies Released”

Article by Diana Perez Gomez and Leslie Tan on “Anticipated EEOC Guidance on COVID-19 Policies Released”

In an article published on July 23, 2021, in SHALE Oil & Gas Business Magazine, Diana Pérez Gomez and Leslie Tan discuss the recent clarity from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to employers continuing to navigate the COVID-19-related employment challenges.

“One of the most significant updates is the EEOC’s affirmative statement that federal equal employment opportunity laws ‘do not prevent employers from requiring all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19, subject to the reasonable accommodation provisions of Title VII and the (Americans with Disabilities Act) and other EEO considerations’,” explain Gomez and Tan. 

Gomez and Tan further explain that employers who institute mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies must oblige employees seeking accommodations based on disability or religious beliefs. “It is important to keep in mind that facially neutral, mandatory vaccination policies may have a disparate impact on, or disproportionately exclude from the workplace, certain employees based on protected characteristics, which employers should be prepared to address,” say Gomez and Tan.

To read the article in full, click here.

• Gomez and Tan in SHALE OIL Gas Magazine_07 23 21.pdf