In anticipation of a federal mandate for large employers to have their workers vaccinated or regularly tested for the COVID-19 virus, Chattanooga-based Unum Group will soon launch a vaccine verifier.
The new digital product is designed to help companies not only verify the vaccine status of workers but help manage employee exemptions and testing requirements.
Unum, the world's biggest disability insurer, is building on its record of handling family leave requests, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance and other workplace programs that require accommodations or exemptions for some workers.
"We know our business partners trust us to provide solutions for their most pressing issues," said Polly Nicholas, senior vice president of Unum Solutions. "The Unum Vaccine Verifier goes beyond a survey, helping human resource teams manage these requirements and allowing them to focus on their employees."
President Joe Biden said Sept. 9 that he will impose a COVID-19 vaccine or testing mandate for U.S. workers through regulations being drafted by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Health and Safety Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Ellen McCann, an employment law and compliance expert at Unum, said Biden's proposal would cover virtually all health care workers, all federal contractors and workers at major employers.
"What the president has laid out in his plan is that for private employers who have over 100 employees, their employees will have to become either vaccinated or they will have to test for COVID at least once a week before they can report to work," she said, with exemptions tied to religions and disabilities.
McCann said all federal employees and contractors and health care workers will not have the option to test out of the vaccines.
"They will have to be vaccinated, subject to those exceptions that may have to be given," she said.
Federal agencies are still preparing the final rules. Unum has already tested its vaccine verifier for employers that have already mandated the COVID-19 vaccines for their workers and the verifier has proven effective, McCann said.
Unum said its new verification system will provide a self-service portal for employees to report vaccination status and upload documentation and manage both employee vaccine exemptions and testing compliance. The system requires handling the intake of all medical and non-medical exemption requests and sensitive documents with the required privacy protections while also ensuring each employee meets the required federal standards.
Unum will provide its service to its clients on a fee basis to help employers comply with the new regulations, which are expected to be issued next week.
Health insurers are also working on helping clients conform with the new rules once they are issued, but most are still waiting on the details to determine how to implement the vaccine and testing requirements.
"The federal government has not yet issued detailed guidance, so we will continue to monitor for information that will help us understand the impact of these requirements both for our own company and the employers we serve," said Alison Sexter, a senior corporate communication specialist for the Chattanooga-based BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. "We'll continue to cover medically necessary COVID-19 testing [which covers testing for those who are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms or who have recently had known exposure to COVID-19.]"
So far, most employers have not mandated their employees be vaccinated, although about a dozen area employers in Chattanooga - including CHI Memorial Hospital, McCallie School and senior service companies such as Pruitt Health and Brooksdale Senior Living - will soon require their workers to be vaccinated.
Many of the biggest employers in Chattanooga, including Unum, have signed on to the Healthy Chattanooga Coalition being promoted by the city and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and are pledging to support their workers in getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Even before the new rules have been issued, 24 state attorneys general have indicated they will sue to block the vaccine mandates, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he thinks such a mandate is unconstitutional.
"There are a lot of outstanding questions right now because the president announced the plan, but others will be announcing the rules for the road as to how we comply with the plan," McCann said.
It is still unclear how employers must respond if an employee has had the virus and feels like he or she has natural immunity, McCann said. Another question is whether those objecting to being vaccinated will have the right to work remotely and not come into the office.
"Will the employer have to allow such exemptions or allow that as a reasonable accommodation?" McCann asked. "What is the impact of the fact that they may have been working from home for the past two years and performing successfully? Will that undermine the employer's ability to be able to say that working from home is not a reasonable accommodation?"
Some employees also may have medical or other objections to wearing masks or being tested annually. Similar to the accommodations required under the Americans with Disability Act, McCann said employers may be required to accommodate particular needs and beliefs of employees.
"Even the president in his plan has said that with regard to federal employees, the government will evaluate any reasonable request for medical accommodations under the ADA and treat them like they would any other accommodations," McCann said. "These will be medical accommodations that employers will have to evaluate. I think employers can expect many, many more requests, either religious or disability-related accommodations, coming out of this mandate."
The vaccine mandate order also requires that employers provide paid leave to receive the vaccines or during any medical complications that occur due to the vaccine. Many states have already implemented paid leave policies.
"There are a lot of questions about how this will work," McCann said. 'But one thing we know is that employers will need to get ready to react to this."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6340.