Retailers have regularly pivoted their business models over the past 18 months as changing guidance from world health organizations and national and local governments continue to change the rules of operation.
Now, with the rise of the Delta variant and renewed indoor mask-wearing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, retailers are once again navigating regulations that are changing practically overnight. While it’s challenging to predict what retailers will have to adapt to in 2022, we have laid out five major issues that could be on the near and longer-term horizon.
1. Changing Guidance. In line with the CDC’s latest guidance, we can expect to see a general return to masks, either strongly recommended or mandated—regardless of vaccination status—in significant parts of the country. This could present a sticky situation in terms of compliance and enforcement for retailers in both the relationship with its own employees as well as between employees and customers.
2. Confidentiality. Vaccination can play an important role in a retailer’s safety protocol. Retailers can ask if an employee is vaccinated—there is no prohibition at the federal level against an employer asking its employees if they are vaccinated. (Asking whether an employee has been vaccinated is not considered a disability-related inquiry under the ADA.)
However, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission does say that any documentation of vaccination status—such as the type of...
Read Full Story: https://chainstoreage.com/covid-and-retail-employment-four-issues-near-long-term-horizon
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.