[ad_1]
The U.S. Postal Service has demanded that President Biden’s administration temporarily exempt from new vaccination and testing rules for its 650,000 employees, warning that they could have potentially “catastrophic” consequences.
The deputy director of the US Post, Doug Tulino, through a letter dated January 4, seen by the Reuters news agency, asked the Administration for the Protection of Safety and Health at Work (OSHA) to extend by 120 days the deadline for the Postal Service to comply. of the vaccination and testing agency rule for large businesses, affecting more than 80 million American workers.
The U.S. Postal Service, one of the largest U.S. civilian employers, says it may not be able to enforce rules based on current deadlines and is facing legal requirements that take time to use and collect medical information and to negotiate. collective with employees represented by unions on the issue.
The U.S. Post also cited the lack of adequate staff and said it would need to train “tens of thousands of local supervisors and managers” to check whether employees were complying with the Covid-19 vaccination or testing rule.
The US Postal Service has requested prior approval to continue work based on current policies against COVID-19, while its request is being considered. The U.S. Postal Service has 30,000 offices in the country.
“We respectfully suggest that the country cannot withstand the potentially major additional damage it would cause to the postal service’s ability to deliver mail and parcels to US homes and businesses by the vaccination and testing rule,” the postal service said in a statement. of the United States.
The Postal Service is not covered by President Biden’s special rules, which make vaccination mandatory for the 3.5 million federal employees, which went into effect Nov. 22.
The Postal Service warned that the rule was likely to result in the loss of “many employees”.
OSHA did not immediately comment on the matter. The Interim Emergency Standard (ETS) issued in November requires that employees in organizations with more than 100 employees be vaccinated or tested weekly and subject to strict masking obligation. Last month, a U.S. appeals court reinstated the rule that makes vaccination mandatory for businesses with more than 100 employees.
The Supreme Court on Friday will hear the arguments in this case.
OSHA extended the time of implementation of this rule last month, saying that it would not punish businesses that violate it before January 10./VOA
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
