Some federal contract workers get pass on safety protocol

Federal contract workers who telecommute from their home office do not need to mask up or maintain social distancing to meet President Joe Biden’s new requirements for managing COVID-19.

Thanks for clearing that up, Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, which addressed the concern in its question and answer section of its newly released paper COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractor. 

And now for the fine print: they still need to get vaccinated. But mask-wearing while working in your pajamas? Skip!

As stated in watertight legalese, according to the Sept. 24 document, the vaccine mandate stands “even if the employee never works at either a covered contractor workplace or Federal workplace during the performance of the contract.”

Yet, because a “covered contractor employee’s residence is not a covered contractor workplace…  while in the residence the individual need not comply with requirements for covered contractor workplaces, including those related to masking and physical distancing, even while working on a covered contract.”