The Carroll City Council voted at Monday’s meeting to table implementation of a COVID-19 vaccine/testing mandate from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) after state officials announced they would not be adopting the federal emergency temporary standard (ETS). According to City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, this was not a policy that he, department heads or the council wanted to put in place, but their hands were essentially tied until Iowa Labor Division Commissioner, Rod Roberts, announced Friday night Iowa OSHA would not enforce the mandate. Michael Galloway, a consulting attorney from Ahlers and Cooney, P.C., recommended the council hold off on the policy for now.
Questions were brought to the council by Carroll Police Captain, Ethan Kathol, regarding how certain aspects of the policy would have a negative effect on city employees. One of the chief concerns was language on a medical information request form sent to employees last week indicating employees could be terminated for noncompliance. Galloway says cities and counties have been struggling since the rule was announced in October with balancing employee rights versus federal compliance.
If Iowa OSHA were to enforce the federal mandate, the City of Carroll could face fines of up to $13,600 per day per incident of noncompliance. According to Pogge-Weaver, city officials are just as relieved as employees are that the OSHA policy is not needed. He calls it bad public policy.
The city council voted unanimously to table discussion on OSHA policy implementation and does not intend to bring it back unless circumstances change at the state and federal levels. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the constitutionality of the OSHA rule on Jan. 7 but is yet to issue a decision as of Tuesday morning.
