Topline
Employers are legally allowed to require their workers get a Covid-19 shot, with some exceptions, the federal government clarified Friday, as many businesses clamor for more legal guidance as they move to reopen offices.
Paul Clasby receives his second shot of the Moderna vaccine from paramedic at a mass vaccination ... [+]
Key Facts
The updated guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) confirms what many legal experts assumed was the agency’s stance back in December, when it first issued preliminary guidance.
Federal law does “not prevent an employer” from requiring that employees in a workplace be vaccinated for Covid, the EEOC wrote.
Workers with certain disabilities and those with medical and religious exemptions can opt out from an employer vaccine mandate, as is the case with longstanding agency policy.
Many businesses have instead opted for vaccine incentives over mandates, and the EEOC said Friday that such incentives are legally permissible, as long as they’re not “coercive” and the shot administered outside of work.
For instance, a “very large incentive” could make “employees feel pressured to disclose protected medical information,” the agency said.
Businesses such as Dollar General and Instacart have already announced plans to offer cash incentives to vaccinated employees, while many long-term care facilities are now requiring workers to get inoculated.
Key Background
The EEOC has long offered businesses the latitude to levy vaccine mandates. But with Covid-19 vaccine mandates, businesses entered a gray area because all three vaccines have not been granted full approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—only emergency-use authorization. Many states have moved to enact laws that make it more difficult for businesses to mandate vaccines, while some employers have shied away from a requirement out of fear of worker lawsuits.
What To Watch For
Many are watching to see if the courts will support a mandate behind vaccines that have yet to be fully FDA approved, “But there is nothing in the law itself to limit the ability of the government and employers to mandate vaccination,” Ana Santos Rutschman, an assistant professor at Saint Louis University who specializes in food and drug law, told USA Today.
Big Number
85. That’s the number of bills that have been introduced in state legislatures to restrict an employer’s ability to mandate vaccinations, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy.
Further Reading
Why grocery chains are paying workers to get vaccinated, but other industries are lagging (Washington Post)
