With another COVID-19 surge upon us and mask mandates being put back into place across the United States, how long before workplaces start requiring employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus?
Federal workers are already required to “get the stab,” and Loyola School of Law professor Dane Ciolino says non-government employers already have legal standing to issue a similar edict as well, even if language from the CDC stops short of a vaccine mandate.
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“I think if you run a business, and you’ve decided that you want people to be vaccinated, period,” Ciolino said, “the EEOC guidance suggests that the rational basis for the employers’ actions be based on CDC guidelines, but I don’t think that they’re restricted to that. If they want to be more restrictive than the CDC, I think a private employer can do that.”
“An employer is allowed to fire you or take other job action against you because you don’t comply with those employer mandates,” Ciolino said. “There have been some people who have said, ‘Look, this vaccine is only on emergency use authorization, and until it’s finally approved by the FDA, I should have the right to decline.’”
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But Ciolino said the Department of Justice has ruled that to be an ineffective argument against defying an employer mandate to get vaccinated.
“Even though it’s just EUA – emergency use authorization drug… that doesn’t matter. That requires employers and anyone forcing the vaccination to give you certain information. But it doesn’t prohibit them from requiring the vaccine.”
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