Employers May Uphold Vaccine Mandates Despite Supreme Court Ruling

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to block the vaccine mandate for large employers, many companies will resume their own vaccine and testing requirements for employees, Forbes and Barron’s report.

Health benefits consultants say private employers can and will continue to pursue vaccine mandates. For example, Citigroup is set to terminate workers who are not vaccinated by the end of the month.

According to a survey conducted by employee benefits consultant group WTW late last year,  57% of all respondents either required or planned  to require COVID-19 vaccinations for employees. That percentage included 18% that currently require vaccinations, 32% that planned to require vaccinations only if the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) takes effect, and 7% that planned to mandate vaccinations regardless of the ETS status.

Many local governments, including New York City’s, have vaccine requirements in place which aren’t affected by the Supreme Court’s opinion. And the court’s decision does not stop employers from enforcing their own mandates. However, the decision does subject large employers to a patchwork of city and state vaccine rules which would have been pre-empted by a single federal rule, The New York Times reports.

Health experts believe the ruling will exacerbate existing divides, like the one between white-collar employees who can remain at home and frontline workers who must conduct business in person. U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued a statement in which he said the supreme court ruling was a “major  setback to the health and safety of workers across the country.”

“OSHA stands by the Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard as the best way to protect the nation’s workforce from a deadly virus that is infecting more than 750,000 Americans each day and has taken the lives of nearly a million Americans,” Walsh said. “We urge all employers to require workers to get vaccinated or tested weekly to most effectively fight this deadly virus in the workplace.”

A separate vaccine mandate for federal contractors is currently on hold. It likely will be headed to the Supreme Court as well.  

ISSA offers commentary on the Supreme Court’s decision in the video below.