Good Morning!  On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced his Path Out of' the Pandemic: COVID-19 Action Plan. The President's plan uses regulatory and other actions to substantially increase the number of Americans covered by vaccination requirements. The President also signed Executive Order (LO) 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safetv Protocols for Federal Contractors which requires Federal contractor employees to be vaccinated.  I am certainly not an expert on this issue but I will attempt to give a high level review of what this might mean, if you have detailed questions please contact Nick Pascale at NRECA, Nicholas.Pascale@nreca.coop<mailto:Nicholas.Pascale@nreca.coop> :

Some on of you have received letters from the Federal agency(ies) who house certain federal entities that you may have contracts with to provide electric service.  For example, you may get a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a division of the Dept. of Justice, therefore, if you have an electric service contract with a federal prison, you will likely receive a letter giving you notice of vaccine mandates for your employees if you have a "covered" contract with a federal agency.  It is our understanding that existing contracts are not covered, only new or amended contracts.  However, many federal agencies are currently amending their contracts to include certain clauses regarding vaccine mandates that are contained in the President's EO.

If you have a covered contract with a federal agency, all of your covered employees (i.s. the employee is necessary for the performance of the job which is essentially all of your employees unless you can somehow segregate certain employees) must be vaccinated by December 8, 2021.  There are 2 exemptions from the vaccine mandate- a religious belief and a medical exception.

The Biden Administration and federal agencies are still working through the EO to try and clarify certain provisions but since the President's agenda is to get the most people vaccinated as possible, the EO and Action Plan will likely be broadly construed to include as many employers as possible.

Michelle Hershel
Director of Regulatory Affairs
Florida Electric Cooperatives Assoc.
2916 Apalachee Parkway
Tallahassee, FL  32301
Cell:  (850) 510-1693
(850)877-6166, ext. 3

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