North Bay employers have questions about how federal vaccine mandate would work

President Biden’s Sept. 9 announcement that all private companies with 100 or more employees must have those workers be vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 each week has some North Bay businesses seeing dollars signs amid a host of unanswered questions as well.

Ghilotti Bros. Inc. anticipates testing 20% of its work force that is unvaccinated will cost $10,000 a week or $40,000 to $50,000 a month. That’s administrative time and paying union workers to get tested. It doesn’t factor in the cost of the actual test.

“It’s also going to mean a lot of administrative staff to take the test, process the test, send them out for results, and take those results and communicate them and track them, and do all the other stuff that will be necessary for compliance,” Mike Ghilotti, president and CEO of Ghioltti Bros. Inc., said.

Some experts also see the blanket mandate heading to the courts.

“To require everyone to obtain a vaccine even if they remain the primary risk groups, or have acquired natural immunity due to prior exposure to the virus, or are capable of working remotely, suggests the strong possibility that the Biden policy will not be sufficiently tailored to survive judicial scrutiny,” Rex Grady, a constitutional law professor at Empire College School of Law in Santa Rosa, told the Business Journal.

Even the regulations and a how they will be enforced are still unclear.

Within the next month, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is expected to issue guidelines pertaining to President Biden’s order. Then California OSHA, the state’s version of the federal agency, will write its own rules. They can be more restrictive, but not less than what the feds come up with.

Mixed reactions to regulations

“There are so many unknowns at this point. We are waiting to see what the guidance is,” Lori Zaret, chief human resources officer at Santa Rosa-based Exchange Bank, said of the federal regulations. “I am celebrating it regardless of anyone’s opinion on vaccinations. It’s about keeping people safe.”

Of the 386 employees at the 19 branches, most of which are in Sonoma County, 84% are vaccinated. Everyone must wear a mask indoors, which is also the county’s requirement.

But Zaret has a lot of questions. She wonders what type of tests will be allowed; acknowledging those who administer it themselves may not get a full swab of their nasal cavity. She wants to be able to rely on the results to keep workers as well as customers safe.

She suspects the intent of the government is to get everyone vaccinated, so then asks: Will the testing option eventually go away? And what about those who have legal exemptions keeping them from getting a shot or two, will testing always be part of their work life?

“The guidance needs to say if working remotely is an alternative to not getting tested,” Zaret said.

She also wants to know who will be paying for all the tests. Will it be through health plans? Employers? Government subsidies?

If I have 50 employees unvaccinated, that is 50 tests a week. These are medical records so we have to retain it confidentially somewhere. It opens up a lot of questions,” Zaret said. “We are already so overburdened with COVID responsibilities.”

She also questions how test results will be reported. Do employees self-report, will there be a state administrator, or will it be the responsibility of the HR department?

“I have seven people in the human resources department. I have zero bandwidth to take it on. It will be a real administrative burden.”

Zaret isn’t the only one with questions. Consumer Brands Association, a trade group representing companies in the food, beverage, household and personal care products industries, sent Biden a letter dated Sept. 13 with a series of questions. CBA represents more than 2,000 brands, with more than 2.1 million people working in those sectors.

Questions included:

•What is considered documentation for proof of vaccination and how will booster vaccinations be factored into compliance?

•Will the requirements only apply to vaccines that are fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration?

•Does the government have plans to centralize vaccination tracking or is it the responsibility of businesses to manage?

•What are the consequences of falsifying one’s vaccination status and does responsibility rest with the individual or employer?

•How does this mandate impact locations with collective bargaining and existing collective bargaining agreements?

In spite of all of the questions Zaret has, she also believes the mandate could provide a better atmosphere at the branches because there should be fewer surprises with regular testing.

“As we navigated COVID, if we had to close a branch, we would have to find staff from different locations. From day to day people were not sure where they were working,” Zaret said. “All these were short notice changes. I think with this we will be able to eliminate a lot of stress regarding people’s schedules and plans. It will be able to give us stability.”

Since June, 13 bank employees have tested positive for COVID-19, which Zaret said is “significantly higher than before.” She said all were a result of exposure to infected people outside the workplace.

To cope with the unexpected, human resources folks are now on call 24/7 to mitigate the situation prior to the workday starting.

“We make sure if we need to, we clean the office, or we close the office, or we keep someone home,” Zaret said.

Ghilotti is extremely angry government officials are passing on more expenses to businesses. He expects the cost of COVID testing will fall on his construction company because he hasn’t heard otherwise.

“I anticipate tens of thousands of dollars weekly being spent on paying union employees to comply with this regulation,” said Ghilotti, who is the third generation to run the company. “Unions are not going to say you can require my union employee to be at a job site 20 minutes earlier and you are not paying him. We will be eating those costs for sure.”

Ghilotti foresees it taking 10 to 15 minutes to administer the test. This is during the workday, so it could affect the entire crew. It may mean halting a whole paving team for that amount of time, not just one person.

About 350 people work for the construction company, with about 270 in the field and 80 in desk jobs.

Because contracts are in place it is not possible to pass the additional overhead onto customers; at least not for current jobs.

“I think the overarching issue is the never ending constant barrage of attacks on small business, in California particularly,” Ghilotti said. “It is really what drives a lot of generational business owners to sell their company. You just get overwhelmed. We are fortunate we have enough good senior management and staff support to manage things like this, but with smaller businesses it’s the owner that has to take this all on and make sure he is compliant.”

Getting in front of the issue

For a number of companies, the federal rule will not matter because they have already implemented equal or more restrictive protocols.

Since June 1, Brayton Purcell law firm in Novato has been requiring all of its nearly 140 workers who go to the office to show their vaccination card.

“We have really not had a lot of push back. Some have decided to work from home,” Jennifer Gotti, human resources manager, said.

All future hires must be vaccinated if they are going to work in the office, she added.

The company hosted a lunch for everyone, but only the vaccinated were allowed to attend. Not even a COVID test would get someone entry.

At Lixit Corp. in Napa the rule came down in late August that if you aren’t vaccinated, you won’t have a job.

The company is the largest small animal watering device manufacturer in the world.

Bank of Marin reports a vaccination rate of more than 90% for its 360 workers.

“Bank of Marin has a vaccination and testing policy that states that employees who are not fully vaccinated are required to test twice per week,” explained Bob Gotelli, director of human resources.

Sept. 17 was the deadline Dominican University of California in San Rafael set for faculty and staff to be fully immunized. As of Sept. 10, 91% of the 440 on-campus employees were vaccinated.

Students were notified in early August they would have to be vaccinated or apply for an exemption to attend fall classes, which started Aug. 23. Currently, there is a 91% vax rate for this population, too.

“If exemptions are approved, all unvaccinated individuals must participate in weekly testing with a PCR test at one of Marin County's free testing sites. Test results must be submitted by midnight on Thursday of each week,” Sarah Gardner, director of communications, explained.

To teach remotely a number of criteria are in place, including providing “a letter from a primary medical care provider outlining the conditions that necessitate this request.”

Masks are required indoors no matter the person’s vaccination status. Voice amplifiers have been purchased to ensure students can hear masked professors. Dominican also created a handful of outdoor classroom areas that can be reserved by instructors.

The college did not provide a price tag for monitoring all of the COVID protocols, but Gardner said, “Several of our staff have absorbed additional work related to COVID. Last year we established a Pandemic Response Team, which consists of staff from various campus departments to oversee and coordinate various procedures, communications, and responses. Our vice president for Advancement & Public Affairs also took on the additional role of Campus COVID-19 Response Lead. She oversees communication with public health officials.”

Editors Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the company Mike Ghilotti operates. It is Ghilotti Bros. Inc.