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Human Resources

Employee COVID-19 Vaccine New Hire Guidance

All K-State employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to comply with executive order requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for federal contractors. This requirement applies to all K-State faculty and staff as well as graduate and undergraduate student employees, requiring them to be fully vaccinated by January 18, 2022. For complete guidance, please visit K-State’s COVID-19 Update webpage.

Hiring Practices

It is important for search committees/interview panels and hiring managers to familiarize themselves with practices that are appropriate during the search process concerning the vaccine requirement.

  • A candidate's vaccination status should not factor into a hiring decision.
  • Hiring managers and search committees should refrain from asking candidates questions related to their vaccination status.
  • Up to and during the interview process, it is permissible to remind candidates of the vaccine mandate that requires them to be in compliance with the vaccine mandate which requires them to either 1) become fully vaccinated against COVID-19; or 2) receive an approved medical or religious exemption.
  • Employment offers should be extended with a contingency that the candidate is fully vaccinated or has an appropriate exemption by the start date.
  • Prior to their start date, new hires must sign a written attestation acknowledging their compliance with the vaccine requirement.
  • If a future employee is not fully vaccinated or has not received medical or religious exemption by the employment start date, hiring managers may make an employment decision to adjust the start date or rescind the offer based on appropriate business needs.

New Hires

The vaccine requirement applies to new hires at K-State. New hires are expected to be fully vaccinated or have received a medical/religious exemption by the employment start date.

Once an offer has been extended, the following steps should be followed:

  1. The department will require new hire to complete the ATTESTATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH COVID-19 VACCINE REQUIREMENT form.
  2. The department will submit the attestation form with other hiring/onboarding paperwork to the Resource Center in HR. The attestation form is not located within PageUp and must be obtained from the HR web page under Forms.
  3. Within 30 days of the start date, it is the new hire’s responsibility to either
    1. Submit proof through the myLafene+ patient portal that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 OR
    2. Apply for and receive an approved medical or religious exemption from K-State.

New hires may submit religious or medical exemption requests at any time and are encouraged to do so as soon as possible. New hires may learn more about the exemption process on the K-State Employee COVID-19 vaccine requirement website.  

If a new hire has not complied with these steps within 30 days of the start date, the offer will be rescinded or the employee will be separated from employment.

Please note: Supervisors or departments are not allowed to request or take copies of vaccination records or share vaccination information for any reason.