On May 18, 2021, the Health Officer of the County of Santa Clara (California) issued a revised health order which, in pertinent part, now requires employers in the county to ascertain the vaccination status of their personnel. The order can be found here. The county also issued a series of helpful questions and answers, which can be found here.
Under this new order, employers in the county are now required to ascertain the vaccination status of all personnel and they must do so by June 1, 2021. Until a person’s vaccination status is ascertained, they must be treated as not fully vaccinated (and this includes those personnel who decline to provide their vaccination status). After June 1, 2021, employers must obtain updated vaccination status for all personnel who were not fully vaccinated, every 14 days. Furthermore, businesses must maintain appropriate records to demonstrate compliance with this provision. Employers must treat this vaccination information the same way they treat other similar private information they receive from their employees, including, for example, medical conditions for which they may request time off, etc.
Employers are only required to determine the vaccination status of workers who perform work at a facility or worksite in the county. Also, employers may rely on contractors to determine the vaccination status of their own employees, but are encouraged to confirm with their contractors that they are complying with the new requirements.
The county has approved a one-page form, which can be found here, for use by employers in collecting vaccination status from personnel. Employers do not need to provide this vaccination information to the county. Instead, they are required to collect it and have it available to demonstrate their compliance with the new order.
For reference, Santa Clara County includes the following cities: Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Los Altos Hills and Los Gatos.