Without the Labor Department’s otherwise uniform rule, larger multi-state employers will now face a patchwork of regulations, some conflicting, state by state. [Tomorrow’s official withdrawal, here — as a PDF.] This should (in a rational world) be an issue larger GOP friendly employers should care about: they should have been careful what they wished for. Now they face a patchwork of conflicting state standards — greatly increasing their regulatory burden, with no discernible benefit. That used to be St. Ronnie’s complaint, about federal regulations. Now, since Texas and Florida are outliers, larger employers are left unsure of which laws to follow. Charming. Well done, Tangerine-heads. End update.
But so be it — employers are entitled to make reasonable rules about eligibility for a job, or even continued employment, for current long time employees. Most large employers in the North, especially, have already adopted what amounts to mandatory vaccination rules. Any state level challenges by employees (for example in Texas or Florida) should be met with the answer that no one has a “property right“, to work for a given employer. That is the mantra of the GOP, on all other (i.e., race discrimination) fronts, related to employment. The GOP sees it as a hard “at will” rule. So I expect that most southern employees who bring state level suits against a nationwide employer (like Amazon), for forcing vaccines… will not prevail — even in Florida and Texas. [In what amounts to a clearly-intentional bit of irony, of course Govs. Abbott and DeSantis and their cohorts will continue to blame President Biden for not stopping the pandemic they themselves are prolonging — in their states.] But we shall see.
As I’ve earlier reported — excepting only GE — I do not think any employer with over 80,000 employees in the US has decided to no longer require vaccinations, now that these employers have ALREADY adopted those workplace rules. Here’s the latest:
…The Biden administration is withdrawing its requirement that large employers mandate workers be vaccinated or regularly tested, the Labor Department said on Tuesday….
The Supreme Court’s decision, which was 6 to 3, with the liberal justices in dissent, said the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, did not have the authority to require workers to be vaccinated for coronavirus or tested weekly, describing the agency’s approach as “a blunt instrument.” The mandate would have applied to some 80 million people if it had not been struck down.
The Labor Department’s decision to withdraw the rule means that the outstanding legal proceedings will be dropped. The case was headed back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati for further consideration….
There are certainly more important hills to die on, than this one, for Mr. Biden.
So, as is often the case — many lawyers will make lots of money, giving seminars on how larger and smaller employers even, may avoid being sued under one of these patchwork state level measures — specifically under Gov. Abbott’s, or Gov. DeSantis’s unscientific executive orders.
It is fascinating though that — in the main — the GOP showed open distain for workers’ health and safety and union-organizing rights for over a half-century, here… and it still does, except on this one MAGA issue. Silly, that. But whatever. Onward, grinning… frigid but clear here tonight.
नमस्ते
