Michigan considers whether company vaccination rates should trigger office reopenings
Updated Mar 15, 2021;
Posted Mar 15, 2021
Cubicles at Brown and Brown of Detroit in Sterling Heights have sat empty for nearly a year, due to the company starting a work-from-home initiative in March 2020. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)
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Michigan’s emergency rules banning office work – except when remote work isn’t “feasible” – will likely be extended six months to October, state leaders say.
But a new workgroup of state, business and health officials is meeting to sort out how Michigan can phase in its return to offices.
Vaccination rates will likely play a larger role than COVID-19 rates when it comes to deciding how and when to reopen offices to all workers, said Sean Egan, director of Michigan COVID-19 workplace safety.
State agency sets up panel to study reopening office buildings
Gentex Corp.
The Zeeland headquarters of Gentex Corp. remains empty as employees for the automotive and aerospace industry supplier continue working from home because of the Michigan Occupational Safety & Health Administration s prohibition on in-person office work if it can be feasibly done from home.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer s administration has formed a workgroup of government, business and labor leaders to make recommendations for allowing workers to return to office buildings after a year of remote work due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The emergency workplace rules the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration put in place in October during the fall surge in COVID-19 cases expires April 14, adding pressure on the workgroup to come up with recommendations on how to regulate office work for the next six months.