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EEOC Issues Updated COVID-19 Technical Assistance

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued updated COVID-19 technical assistance, as of October 13, 2021, addressing or revisiting COVID-19 vaccination questions arising with respect to federal equal employment opportunity laws, including:

• May employer require all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated (K.1)
• Reasonable accommodations or modifications employers may have to provide employees who do not get vaccinated due to disability, religious beliefs, or pregnancy (K.2)
• How employers can encourage employees to be vaccinated without violating EEO laws (K.3)
• Is an employee’s vaccination information confidential medical information under the ADA (K.4)
• Does the ADA prevent an employer from inquiring about or requesting documentation that an employee obtained a vaccination (K.9)
• What should an employer do if an employee chooses not to receive a vaccination due to pregnancy (K.13)
• Limits on the value of the incentive employers offer to employees who voluntarily received a vaccination from a health care provider not affiliated with their employer (K.16)
• Limits on the value of the incentive employers offer to employees for voluntarily receiving a vaccine administered by the employer (K.17)
• Does GINA limit the value of the incentive employers may offer employees if their vaccination was from a health care provider not affiliated with employer (K.18)

For discussion of these issues, see “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” section K.