Coronavirus Update 11-9-2021: White House tells employers to proceed with vaccine mandate despite 5th Circuit stay; I concur

People should not wait. They should continue to move forward and make sure they’re getting their workplace vaccinated.

– White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Nov. 8, 2021

On Saturday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeal (which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi) entered an order staying OSHA's "vaccine or test" rule for employers with 100 or more employees.

Questions—

• Does that order only apply to employers in the three states within the 5th Circuit, or does it apply nationwide?
• What happens next?
• Most importantly, what should employers do now?

I have answers, which I offer in this short video, which I recorded yesterday. 

Employers must assume that the OSHA ETS is taking effect as planned and stay the course. January 4, 2022, will be here before we know it, and employers that don't start planning now will be caught out of compliance.

Coronavirus Update 11-8-2021: Let’s talk about Aaron Rogers

Last Wednesday, Aaron Rodgers, future Hall of Fame quarterback for the first-place Green Bay Packers, tested positive for Covid-19. This fact, in and of itself, might be newsworthy because of who he is, but in and of itself it's not earth-shattering. That is, it's not earth-shattering news until you couple it with the fact that: (1) it appears Rogers is not fully vaccinated against Covid-19; and (2) in August, when a reporter asked if he had received the Covid-19 vaccine, Rodgers said, "Yeah, I've been immunized."

"Immunized," in this case, however, appears to mean something very different than fully vaccinated against Covid-19. 

I did not lose on Jeopardy!

The Final Jeopardy category is “Cybersecurity.”

The answer: “The reason why it was not Jeopardy! Clue Crew member assistant director Sarah Whitcomb Foss trying to sell me a PS5 over Twitter.”

The question: “What is her account was hacked?”

For anyone who followed my PS5 saga from yesterday, here’s the resolution. 

If you need to catch up, you can do so here.

I’m quite happy I wagered big on my cyber fraud Spidey sense. 

WIRTW #603: the “Did anything happen yesterday?” edition

Unless you've been living in a cave for the past 24 hours, you are well aware that OSHA released its vaccine-mandate emergency temporary standard. There are lots of resources that have since been published, including this website from OSHA itself. One of the best is this half-hour video in which the agency explains the nuts and bolts of the ETS.

Alternatively, you can just randomly pound on your keyboard and you'll end up on the website of an employment lawyer offering you his or her summary (me included).

Here are the best things I read online this past week that I think you should be reading, too.

BREAKING NEWS: OSHA publishes its vaccine-mandate emergency temporary standard

Write down November 4, 2021, as the Employment Lawyer Superbowl. At 8:45 am this morning, OSHA published its Covid-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard in the Federal Register. You can download and read all 490(!) pages of it here.

Most importantly, this rule takes effect immediately upon its publication in the Federal Register — i.e., today — but employers have 30 days, or until December 5, 2021, to comply with all requirements except testing for employees who are not fully vaccinated (which has a January 4, 2022, compliance date). 

This means that by no later than January 4, 2022, employers will need to ensure that their employees have received their final vaccination dose, with weekly testing required for unvaccinated employees thereafter.

I lost on Jeopardy! A cybersecurity lesson on phishing scams

It started innocently enough, with a tweet: "Please share your best strategies for finding a PS5 before Christmas that do not involve me sleeping outside of a store or paying through the nose on eBay. Thanks."

Almost too coincidentally, a few minutes later I saw this tweet from Sarah Whitcomb Foss, a member of the Jeopardy! Clue Crew and one of the show's assistant directors: "Hello Twitter family! I am proud to announce that I have partnered with #Sony to supply you guys with some brand new #PS5 consoles for retail pricing! Just RT and like this and send me a DM if you need help!"

With my curiosity piqued (and her Twitter account blue-checkmark verified and looking legitimate), I followed her instructions by retweeting and liking her tweet, and sending her this DM: "Looking to purchase a PS5. Is this legit?"

The customer isn’t always right, especially when the customer wants you to discriminate

"I'm afraid we can't hire you because you won't mix well with our customers."

That's what the EEOC alleges a northern Minnesota furniture retailer told a transgender job applicant. It's also the reason that company has agreed to pay a $60,000 settlement. "Title VII does not permit discriminatory employment decisions based on customer preference," says the EEOC.