Lindenwood University is planning, but not implementing, requirements for an Emergency Temporary Standard, or ETS, that may be mandated by the government soon.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, developed the ETS to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace for large employers with 100 or more employees, according to an email sent out by Lindenwood’s Assistant Vice President Amanda Price of Human Resources.

The ETS was halted by a nationwide legal stay last month. Proceedings are now pending before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. OSHA suspended the ETS awaiting action by the 6th Circuit, and the legal challenge may ultimately end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

At this time, the timing of the ETS becoming active is unknown. It’s possible that the ETS may never go into effect, according to Mark Falkowski, the university’s general counsel.

Lindenwood has been closely monitoring the ETS’s legal battles and is taking steps to prepare for ETS should it become active. The university will be having the campus employees, including student employees, provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, and non-vaccinated employees will be required to undergo weekly COVID testing as early as January 4.

“Lindenwood University anticipates that it will provide the weekly testing to all non-vaccinated employees on campus,” Falkowski said in an email.

Price’s email said that all student employees are required to submit their COVID-19 vaccination status by Dec. 17. Those who do not give their status will not be permitted to work.

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