Three weeks ago, President Joe Biden told America he’d ordered his regulators to draw up “emergency” workplace rules requiring vaccinations for everyone working for big companies. Those rules have yet to emerge. And they might not emerge for another month and a half.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration announced on Friday – which is the day politicians choose to release news when they want minimal coverage – that federal contractors will have until Dec. 8 to comply with that part of his mandate. More than two months from now.
In other words, Biden hasn’t managed to get his federal mandate implemented yet, and won’t for some time. What he has managed to achieve is dissension, confusion, lawsuits, and worker shortages – as well as a steady decline in daily vaccination rates. (See the chart below.)
Mark it down as another Biden “success.”
Biden directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to create those “emergency” rules. Businesses will need them to know who can be exempted from the mandate and why, what the penalty will be for failing to comply, paperwork requirements, etc. These businesses will also need to know that they aren’t violating the Americans with Disabilities Act while enforcing the Biden vaccine mandate.
The only concrete step that the administration has taken so far was to release its “guidance” covering federal contractors. Among other things, that guidance document says that even those who’ve had COVID or tested positive for the antibodies still have to get vaccinated.
Biden’s mandate, as well as those issued by states and corporations, have sparked a raft of lawsuits.
- Several federal workers and contractors, for example, have filed suit against the U.S. government.
- The American Postal Workers Union is in a “wait and see mode” to see what regulators come up with.
- Dozens of government workers in Washington state workers filed suit against that state’s mandate.
- New York state faces multiple lawsuits over its vaccine mandate for health care workers.
- United Airlines employees filed a class-action lawsuit against the company’s vaccine mandate.
The mandate is also threatening to cause shortages, as workers who can’t or won’t get the vaccine quit or are fired.
