New Federal Legislation to Affect Millions of Unvaccinated American Workers

• Author: Monica Jackson
• Posted: 2024-03-19

President Joe Biden addressed the nation on Thursday afternoon, announcing several new vaccine requirements for American workers. According to Biden, these new rules will affect as many as 100 million Americans, many of whom have not yet been vaccinated. The goal of the sweeping piece of legislation is designed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 while boosting the economy in the process.

Companies Over 100 Employees Face Vaccine Requirements

One of the most significant elements of the newly announced legislation is the mandate that all businesses with over 100 workers will need to require that every staff member be vaccinated or that they test for the virus on a weekly basis. This part of the legislation will affect roughly 80 million Americans.

The new mandate for large companies to require either vaccinations or weekly testing for workers will be enacted through a new rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This regulation will come with a penalty of $14,000 for every violation. The Biden administration has not yet confirmed when the new rule will take effect. However, the White House did say that they would offer companies enough time to get employees fully vaccinated before fines are levied.

This leg of the policy will also mandate that large companies give their employees paid time off to get vaccinated. During his address, Biden made it clear that no American worker should have to worry about a paycheck just to get vaccinated.

Federal Workers and Contractors

As part of the executive order, vaccinations will now be required for executive branch workers. In addition, all contractors who work with the federal government must also be vaccinated. Unlike the mandate for basic businesses with over 100 employees, this order does not offer the option to test out of the vaccine requirement weekly.

According to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, the order for these workers does include exceptions for employees asking for religions or medical exemptions. The federal workers and contractors will be allowed 75 days to get fully vaccinated. If a worker does not comply with the mandate, they will need to seek counsel from their human resources department. The counsel may result in termination.

This order goes beyond what Biden and his team implemented earlier in the summer when he mandated that federal workers be vaccinated but gave options to those who chose to opt out. The new order takes away the option of participating in other mitigation measures as a way to get out of the vaccine.

Health Care Professionals

If you are a health care professional who has not been vaccinated, you will also now likely face a mandatory immunization requirement. Biden announced that all health care workers at facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding from the government will need to be fully vaccinated.

Earlier this summer, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services mandated vaccines for nursing home staff. The new legislation will expand this mandate to other types of healthcare settings. This includes most hospitals, home health agencies, travel nurses, and dialysis centers.

Additional Pieces of Employee Vaccination Legislation

The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will also now require vaccinations for educators and staff in the nation's Head Start Programs. The DHHS is also requiring that employees of schools under the operation of the Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Education receive their vaccination. This mandate encompasses another 300,000 employees.

Biden used his time behind the podium on Thursday to ask state governors to require that all educators be vaccinated. While a few states have already put this mandate in place, the majority of states do not require that teachers be vaccinated.

Roughly 80 million eligible American adults are not vaccinated. The goal of this new legislation package is to speed up the vaccination effort and encourage those that are hesitant to get vaccinated to get off the fence and get the shot. The new legislation comes at a time when cases and hospitalizations are at some of the highest levels of the pandemic, despite so much of the population being vaccinated.