Portland-area businesses prepare guidance for workers following federal vaccine rule announcement

By AUDREY WEIL

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    PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — FOX 12 is hearing from big businesses in our area about what they think of the federal government’s vaccine mandate for companies and how they plan to implement that.

President Biden says any business with 100 or more workers will have to make sure they’re vaccinated or tested for COVID weekly.

It’s expected to impact more than 80 million workers in the private sector.

Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle is all in favor of the OSHA rule. They have a policy that offers financial and other incentives for employees who get vaccinated, but he says it hasn’t been enough to get everyone on board.

He hopes this will encourage people more.

“We’re thrilled that the federal government is finally taking some leadership here and that the president has said this is not a game we’ve got to get this thing under control and the way to do that is to have everyone vaccinated. This is about taking care of everybody and ourselves,” Boyle, said.

Columbia will have to make sure its rule complies with the federal order and figure out how the testing component will work for those who aren’t vaccinated. Businesses at this point are waiting on those federal guidelines to know exactly how to move forward.

For example, a spokesperson from New Seasons tells us they don’t have a vaccination requirement right now, but will comply once they have the information. They sent a statement with some of their efforts so far saying in part…

“For interested staff, we’ve provided supplemental paid time off to receive vaccinations, and we created opportunities for individuals and their families to receive vaccinations at dedicated clinics at out Store Support office. Average vaccination rates in our stores exceed the community average.”

As for some other big businesses in our area, McMenamin’s currently doesn’t have a vaccine requirement either and will be working out the details for its new policy.

The Portland Trail Blazers and Rose Quarter do have a policy for all full and part-time staff to be fully vaccinated by November 1 unless they have a religious or medical exemption.

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